SPH’s Chinese Media Group integrates editorial resources to form NewsHub

NewsHub will facilitate news coverage and provide the latest news updates for CMG’s digital platforms including zaobao.sg and zaobao.com, as well as SPH Radio’s new Chinese station 96.3 Hao FM, which will be launched in January next year. It will also provide more in-depth and quality news coverage for Lianhe Zaobao and Lianhe Wanbao. 

NewsHub will begin its operations on 1 December 2017 and is headed by NewsHub editor Han Yong May who was formerly CMG’s digital editor, Lianhe Zaobao’s associate editor. Apart from the usual news sections such as local, court and crime, world, business, sports, arts and culture, entertainment and lifestyle, NewsHub will include a breaking news team. The local news section will also include a Special Report team to provide more in-depth news reports, in addition to its existing political news team. The photo team will be part of NewsHub for more effective use of resources. 

Goh Sin Teck, editor of Lianhe Zaobao, will also be the editor of Lianhe Wanbao. He will be responsible for the positioning of both newspapers, leading the sub-editors and design teams of both publications to package news for different target audiences. He will continue to lead the zaobao.com team to provide coverage of China’s news and focus on the website’s business operations in China.  

Ang Yiting, formerly deputy digital editor of CMG, will be promoted to digital editor. She will work closely with NewsHub to develop CMG’s digital platforms. 

Loh Woon Yen, formerly vice president of culture, education and new growth of CMG, will be managing editor, taking charge of CMG’s operations in the areas of culture, education, publishing, events and branding promotions. 

Commenting on the restructure, Lee Huay Leng, head of CMG, said: “Due to media disruption, the local Chinese media has reached a critical phase where there is a need for transformation. The organisation structure and mode of operation for the past decades will not be able to bring us forward. Technology can help us to expand our market and provide us with new platforms to reach out to more readers. The developments in the larger media environment also lend new opportunities for the Chinese media. However, it is essential for us to abandon our old ways of thinking to meet new challenges. With readers having more media choices, we need to transform ourselves, invest in resources to produce news with even higher quality, and to effectively deliver our content to readers, so that we will continue to be the readers’ choice.” 

Han Yong May, editor of NewsHub, said: “The launch of NewsHub reflects a global pivot towards media integration. Today, journalists are not just storytellers, but insight experts as well. They need to be the generalist and the specialist simultaneously to bring impactful stories to the public. In the past, a journalist can probably work on such stories alone. But the scope of reporting has grown much broader in the new media environment. We thus need people with different expertise to work more closely together.” 

“Integrating our editorial resources from Lianhe Zaobao, Lianhe Wanbao and CMG Digital is not about serving the same content repeatedly on different platforms. Rather, it is about pooling our talents together to tailor the most suitable content for each platform and its target audience,” she added. 

Goh Sin Teck, editor of Lianhe Zaobao and Lianhe Wanbao, added: “In the face of media disruption, it is impossible for the newsroom to continue operating the same way. Lianhe Zaobao and Lianhe Wanbao will celebrate their 95th and 35th anniversary respectively next year. While preserving our rich heritage, we must innovate so that our readers who have been supporting us through the years will continue to have an enjoyable reading experience.” 

Meanwhile, Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News will not be affected by the restructuring exercise. Its existing editorial team will continue to provide news coverage for the evening paper.

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