SINGAPORE - After 33 years, The New Paper will cease its print edition and go fully digital after Dec 10.
The move is part of SPH Media Trust's mission to accelerate the digital transformation of newsrooms and to meet audience preferences in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Going fully digital will allow SPH Media Trust to serve TNP readers better, said Mr Khaw Boon Wan, chairman of the trust, in an interview with The Sunday Times (Sept 19).
"We have discussed and we have decided to let The New Paper pivot to be fully digital as soon as possible," said Mr Khaw.
"In other words, we cease the print production, reform the newsroom, enhance their online presence, so that they can serve their readers, their audience much better round the clock."
SPH Media Trust, a company limited by guarantee (CLG), will take over Singapore Press Holdings' media business by December. The CLG is a profit-making commercial venture with profits reinvested in the business.
In May, mainboard-listed SPH had announced that it planned to hive off its media business to a CLG as part of a company-wide strategic review.
Mr Khaw, the former coordinating minister for infrastructure and transport who had retired from politics in June last year, was named chairman of the CLG.
Former SPH deputy chief executive Patrick Daniel was named its interim chief executive.
On Sept 10, SPH shareholders approved the plan. Details of the transfer to the CLG are now being worked out.
TNP was launched in 1988 to engage a wider segment of the English-language readership beyond those reading The Straits Times.
Over the years, it established a reputation for its creative storytelling, engaging graphics and bold designs, as well as its sports, crime and entertainment coverage.
TNP became a freesheet in December 2016, targeting the commuter crowd with distribution at 45 MRT stations from Mondays to Fridays.
Staying true to its unique brand of storytelling, the paper hopes to better serve readers with a revamped website - tnp.sg - to be launched on Oct 25.
It will continue to deliver human interest stories that are engaging and inspiring, as well as content that offers a unique street-eye view of life in the heartland.
Stories that matter to people in Singapore, stories that matter to its readers.
