This World News Day, The Straits Times renews its commitment to the community

News organisations around the world will mark World News Day on Sept 28. Since its more humble beginnings in 2018, World News Day has grown into a globally supported initiative that aims, year after year, to underline the importance of trustworthy news and information in the normal functioning of societies. 

For newsrooms around the world already inured to constant upheaval, World News Day 2024 comes at an especially challenging time.  

The threats are manifold and well-documented: advertising revenues are declining worldwide; the world that emerged from the pandemic into global conflicts and economic uncertainty is avoiding news; social media platforms are strengthening algorithms to concentrate attention on their own platforms; and the already diminished and fatigued audiences coming to news are expected to shrink further with advances in generative AI.

In a year that began with a flood of news stories about US media titles slashing jobs, the oft-asked question of “What will the future of journalism look like?” has turned into a more alarmist “Is there a future for journalism?” 

And this before we even consider the consequences of the continuing devaluation of journalism around the world. Whether it’s the insidious effects of the political trivialisation and outright dismissal of fact as “fake news”, or issues of abuse, harassment, imprisonment and the killing of journalists in various jurisdictions, journalism is a profession that is under siege.

World News Day 2024 therefore comes at a time when the news media is contemplating its own mortality. Early this year, for example, The New Yorker asked: “Is the media prepared for an extinction-level event?” 

The concern about losing audiences used to centre on news in print. It now cuts across every platform. Journalism is under threat, whether delivered on TV, magazines, radio or the internet. The list of newsrooms in reported turmoil include once fashionable online upstarts such as Buzzfeed, Vice and Huffington Post, as well as famed institutions such as CNN, The Washington Post and National Geographic.

News subscriptions, once the “great hope” of the media world, now vie for time and attention with Netflix and Disney. In the contest for attention and dollars, news and current affairs will always find it hard to match up to the Avengers.

The question underpinning it all is why. Why is news struggling to find a place in people’s lives? Why is it that, in the words of The New Yorker, “reporting the news well is, by itself, no longer a profitable business proposition”?

What is the value of news?

The news media has, for too long, largely taken its own importance for granted.

What problems do we solve for the public? What would life in our communities be like without reliable news? How and how much should people pay for it? The answers are self-evident only to those who work in the news industry, and they differ across communities and news platforms.

As an industry and profession, we have never really made a consistent, persistent and relatable case as to how and why societies should value journalism, let alone price it appropriately. 

At some point in the history of broadcasting, it became clear that television or radio news was such a capital-intensive but essential public service that it might, in some circumstances, not be commercially viable.

Enter the public broadcasting model, which relies on funding from the state or taxpayers for the service’s existence. Many governments around the world started to collect a tax or licence fee to fund these operations, or just funded media directly from their coffers.

The argument was a simple one: Public broadcasting plays a key public service role, and must therefore be funded collectively, regardless of individual use.

These policies helped fund public service media without audiences having to think about what they want from their news or how much it costs to produce it. Reliable news was just one more thing that tax dollars paid for.

But even this model is under threat. Struggles are emerging in many countries, with some facing pressures to cut licence fees, as is the case in Italy and Switzerland. Others have been unable to increase licence fees to cover rising costs, as in Germany and the UK. 

In commercial print and broadcast newsrooms, the heyday of monopolies in advertising and subscriptions was no doubt heady, fully funding resource-intensive journalism to the extent that the price of a newspaper or a cable TV subscription bundle never remotely reflected the value of the journalism involved. Those days are over.

We have been confronted with that tension for years. There is no common rule book in the jungle out there. Each community, society and news industry will have to find its own way – as we will in Singapore – to make sure that the gap between the value and the cost of journalism does not stretch to breaking point.

News in the eye of the beholder?

To attempt the somewhat belated exercise of valuing news is far from straightforward, and especially so today, when the definition of news has become more and more contentious. 

With the explosion of information and information flows driven by ever more precise algorithmic targeting, our tolerance for different ideas, and the space for commonly held truths has diminished. What is “news” to one person can be “propaganda” to another.

For many people, the response to any information that sits uncomfortably with their closely held views and value systems is simply to declare it “fake news”.

When television became the main medium by which first the US, and then the rest of the world consumed news and entertainment, an editorial dictum that some had called the “least objectionable programme” emerged. 

It was widely held that broadcast programming that offended the fewest viewers would be the only way to bring in mass viewership numbers, and this became the common space that media companies and their audiences respected and operated in.

Today, however, as we reach for our phones to share and “engage” with information, we have sometimes defaulted to sharing what may in fact be called “most objectionable” content. After all, who engages on social media with content that is balanced, considered and considerate?

With different perspectives on what’s even “news”, common spaces, commonly held truths and a sense of community have disappeared or diminished.

A 2018 study of perceptions of newsworthiness conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found that the news value people ascribed to a story had a strong correlation with whether they thought the story would be helpful to their political cause. 

Participants were asked to rate stories on newsworthiness, specified as importance to a hypothetical newspaper readership. The less they agreed with the story, the more they thought it was not news.

Avoiding doomerism, focusing on the community

It is only too easy to drown in the doomerism that surrounds journalism. But just as the solutions to climate change will never be found in climate doomerism, the exploration of solutions to challenges in journalism won’t be found in foggy pessimism.  

At least here in Singapore, we have enough to build on. Indicators of societal trust, tolerance and inclusivity, while always a work-in-progress, are strong. The annual Reuters Institute Digital News Report regularly finds that Singaporeans trust their news media more than people in most other countries do. 

The Singapore Government has always recognised that the news media plays a pivotal public service role, as seen in the financial support given to national broadcaster Mediacorp. More recently,

the support was extended to SPH Media, which includes The Straits Times.

The social fabric is fraying in many societies. We are fortunate that in Singapore, the bonds are relatively strong. But in a world of social media filter bubbles and algorithmically enhanced, ultra-personalised media experiences, real-world common experiences, common understanding, common truths and common spaces need vigilant protection. It is our belief that journalism must aspire to play a supportive role here.

In social science terminology popularised by political scientist Robert Putnam, there are two primary forms of social capital that bind communities: bonding social capital, which ties us to those who are like us, and bridging social capital, which ties us across groups or those who are not like us.

Can the news media play a role in not just strengthening “bonding social capital” among  Singaporeans, but also strengthening “bridging social capital” across the many varied communities here? We think that The Straits Times is best placed to do both well because we reach a large audience and enjoy a high level of trust. 

At 180, a time for reflection and re-commitment

In July 2025, ST will celebrate its 180th anniversary. It is a humbling landmark, and an opportunity not just to renew our commitment to our community, but to also reflect on our mission.

First, we will continue to be a publication of record, but one that is modern and relevant. 

Since the first copy came off the presses in July 1845, The Straits Times has been part of the national memory. Many significant moments of Singapore’s history are recalled in the context of our headlines, stories and visuals. 

We will continue to play the role of recording history as it happens. But we will approach this responsibility with a modern sensibility. In an age of almost limitless accessibility and availability of information, being a publication of record is no longer about reporting all the news that’s fit to print.

Instead, our journalism will increasingly be about how we report what is happening in our communities. We will report deeply and sensitively while exercising moderation, humility and transparency, values which are so much needed in society today.

Second, we will not waver in our commitment to public service journalism, to build an informed citizenry, and to foster a common understanding of issues that matter to Singapore and Singaporeans.  

Citizenship comes with responsibilities, as much as rights, and it is our belief that public service journalism includes reporting news that may not go viral, but is important in helping citizens understand key issues that impact them. 

Third, we will continue to tell all our stories through a Singapore lens. At home, that means connecting Singapore and Singaporeans to the world around us. For audiences outside Singapore, it means telling Singapore’s story and the world’s stories in a way that reflects the values for which our country is best known for. 

Covering what you care about on platforms that you use

The backbone of all these plans is, of course, the journalism we produce. At a time when audiences are fragmented, we realise that to reach as many people as possible, we must widen the scope of what we cover and broaden the variety of stories that make it to our platforms.

Each of us has different interests, different things we care about, and different things we want to know. The Straits Times wants to be as relevant as possible to all of our audiences, and we know the first step is to cover issues that our communities care about. 

If the content is not relevant to you, no amount of dressing up or social media promotion is going to get you to read, listen or watch.

We are focusing more on listening to the community and thinking about your needs. On youth issues, for instance, we aim to reflect not only what the young care about, but also do it in a way that helps other generations understand them better. 

Our

HeadSTart newsletter

is one example. Every week we e-mail a curated list of stories aimed at giving Gen Zs and millennials tips on money, career and personal growth. In our popular

We Try First video series

, our young reporters produce breezy videos on different aspects of working life, including career development, smart investments and lifestyle choices. 

Our school publications – Little Red Dot, IN and TL;DR – present news and current affairs in formats that will appeal to students in different age groups, from primary to tertiary levels. 

We will continue to look for new ways to engage the young more and make them feel that they are being seen and heard on our platforms.

We will do the same for the seniors of Singapore, a demographic that is becoming a significant proportion of the population. We believe that we can play bonding and bridging roles for this generation.

In

Sumiko At 60

, a recently launched column and podcast series, executive editor Sumiko Tan looks at the blessings and challenges that come with getting older. The series not only helps those entering their 60s share life lessons with their peers, it also gives those younger a sense of what awaits them and how to start planning for old age.

Outside of serving different demographics, we will do more to cover a wider breadth of issues to give Singaporeans a broader and more textured understanding of society and the world we live in. 

Our journalism already reaches more Singaporeans than any other news outlet, and our commitment to Singapore can be seen in the depth and breadth of content that we produce. 

While we will continue to emphasise in-depth coverage of key national issues, we also want to stay close to the community. If something is happening in a neighbourhood that our audiences care about, we will want to cover it. 

Outside Singapore, our foreign coverage will focus on values such as moderation and balance in an increasingly polarised world, representing different sides of an argument, but where needed, reflecting values that Singapore holds dear.  

We will make sure that we deliver our content on the platforms that our audiences go to. We recognise that many people no longer seek out the news on the websites or apps run by news publications. At the same time, The Straits Times will not shirk from exercising its editorial judgment in curating and presenting content that speaks of “commonly held truths” on the app, website and in print.  

We recognise that we have to be everywhere that our communities are. This means being on social media platforms old and new, but we will uphold our editorial ethos and not succumb to click-baiting or hyper-targeting.

Invitation to engage

As we look to The Straits Times’ 180th anniversary in 2025, we will organise initiatives that we hope will demonstrate our commitment to the community, and bring us closer together. We will organise activities and events that will give our audiences an insight into the news production process, and a chance to share stories and issues that you feel deserve more attention. Our journalists will work at being more accessible online and off. Come meet us at our events.

We are singularly focused on our purpose as we look ahead to the landmark anniversary and even further into the future. We will demonstrate our commitment to protect and strengthen our community through our journalism.

This will be what The Straits Times will aspire to. We recognise that we will sometimes fall short. When this happens, we will be humble in admitting our shortcomings, explaining our mistakes and learning from them.

This is our commitment to the community, and we invite you to join us in telling the Singapore story. We hope you continue to read, watch, engage and subscribe. Every bit counts.