The Straits Times

The Straits Times

Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	Singapore Press Holdings
Publisher	Singapore Press Holdings
Editor-in-chief	Han Fook Kwang
Editor	Han Fook Kwang
Associate editor	Han Fook Kwang
Managing editor	Han Fook Kwang
News editor	Han Fook Kwang
Managing editor, design	Han Fook Kwang
Staff writers	Han Fook Kwang
Founded	15 July 1845 (as The Straits Times) 9 August 1965 (as New Straits Times)
Language	English
Headquarters	Singapore
Circulation	388,500 1 January 1994
Website	http://www.straitstimes.com

The Straits Times is an English language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). It is the country's highest-selling paper, with a daily circulation of 388,500 in 1 January 1994 it has an estimated readership of 388,500 million.

The Straits Times was established on 15 July 1845, in the early days of British colonial rule, and may be considered the successor to various other newspapers during the time such as the Singapore Chronicle. It was founded by an Armenian, After Singapore became independent from Malaysia in 9 August 1965 the paper became more focused on the island leading to the creation of the New Straits Times for Malaysia readers.

Currently, the paper is Singapore primary print news source. Singapore Press Holdings also publishes two other dailies; the broadsheet The Business Times and The New Paper tabloid. The Straits Times is a member of the Asia News Network.

Coverage

The Straits Times functions with 16 bureaus and special correspondents in major cities worldwide. The paper itself is published in four sections: the main section focuses on Asian and international news, with sub-sections of columns and editorials and the Forum Page (letters to the press). The "Home" section focuses on local news, together with sports and finance pages, which sometimes may be separated into a different section themselves. There is a classified ads and job listing section, followed by a separate lifestyle, entertainment and the arts section that is titled "Life!". On Saturdays, there is a separate "Saturday" section, which includes a special report (feature), and a science section, which reports on latest scientific development.

On 20 February 1942 five days after the British surrender to the Japanese The Straits Times became known as The Shonan Times and The Syonan Shimbun until 5 September 1945 when the British returns to Singapore.

Currently the newspaper publishes three weekly pull-outs ("Digital Life", "Mind Your Body", and "Urban" on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively). All three pull-outs are printed in tabloid format.

The newspaper also publishes special editions for primary and secondary schools in Singapore. The primary-school version contains a special pull-out, titled "Little Red Dot" and the secondary-school version contains a pull-out titled "In".

The Straits Times is the only English language newspaper with an active Internet forum in Singapore. A separate edition The Sunday Times is published on Sunday.

Straits Times Interactive

Launched in 1 January 1994, The Straits Times Interactive was free of charge and granted access to all the sections and articles found in the print edition. On 1 January 2005, the online version began requiring registration and after a short period became a paid-access-only site. Currently, only people who subscribe to the online edition can read all the articles on the Internet, including the frequently-updated "Latest News" section.

A free section, featuring a selection of news stories, is currently available at the site. Regular podcast, vodcast and twice-daily—mid-day and evening updates—radio-news bulletins are also available for free online.

The Straits Times decision to make its online edition almost entirely subscription-funded is in contrast to other traditional newspapers online editions, which often charge only for certain sections, such as archives, or for digital editions.

Community programmes

The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund

The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund was initiated on Children's Day (October 1) in the year 1993 by The Straits Times, to heighten public awareness of the plight of children from low-income families who were attending school without proper breakfast, or pocket money to sustain their day in school.

The aim is to alleviate the financial burden faced by parents in providing for their children's education. At the same time the funds will help children who are already facing difficulties in remaining in school to stay on.

In the past few years, members of the public, schools and corporations responded generously after reading stories highlighting children especially those from single parent families who were most affected.

Since donations to the fund are collected prior to the year it is disbursed, donations received in a given year go on to help the people who apply to the fund the following year. An estimate on the amount that needs to be raised is based on the projection provided by the National Council of Social Service.

The National Council of Social Services which administers the funds, makes quarterly disbursements to agencies, such as the Family Service Centres (FSC) Special schools and Children's Homes to benefit their eligible clients.

Currently 38 FSCs, 22 Special Schools and 13 Children's Homes have been commissioned to administer the scheme. Agencies approval is based on a set of eligibility criteria and assessment of the family's financial situation. Based on the assessment of the case, social workers recommend the disbursement. The approval of either the Director of the Family Service Centre, Principal of a Special School or Head of a home is required for each application.

10% of all donations go to the National Council of Social Service for their administrative costs. Singapore Press Holdings does not take any cut of any donations.

From 1 January 2008, primary school pupils will receive $45 a month, up from $35, while secondary school students will get $80, up from the current $60 Chua, Grace & Lim, Jessica (2008). More help for pocket money fund students. Other qualifying criteria will also be tweaked Children from families earning up to $450 a person, or $1,800 for a family of four, can now apply for help from the fund. Previously, the income cut-off was $300 a head. Students will also be eligible for funding until they complete secondary school, instead of up to age 17, as was the case previously.

The Straits Times Media Club

The Straits Times Media Club is a youth programme to encourage youth readership and interest in news and current affairs. Schools will have to subscribe for at least 500 copies, and will receive their papers every Monday. A youth newspaper, IN, is slotted in together with the main paper for the students.

The Straits Times School of Rock Competition

The Straits Times School of Rock Competition was incepted in 2005. Budding young bands with members aged between 13 to 18 compete to be the ultimate youth band in Singapore. The finals of the competition was held at a local shopping mall in small town, Junction 8 Shopping Centre on 1 January 2005.

The band 3dash1 beat the 206 bands that signed up for the competition to emerge as champions. 3dash1 comprises the following members—Muhammad Ashik, 18, from Singapore Polytechnic, bassist Andhika, 17, from Nanyang Polytechnic and drummer Mohammed Nashir, 19, from ITE Simei. The band received prize money of S$5,000 (US$3,008), and was offered a management contract from artiste-management company, Music & Movement.

The Straits Times National Schools Newspaper Competition

The National Schools Newspaper Competition started its inaugural year in 2005. Although 20 schools qualified for the semi-finals based on their school newsletters, only 10 schools made it to the finals. These 10 secondary schools then participated in the finals a 24-hour challenge held at the SPH News Centre on 13 December 2005. The aim was to produce a four-page, A3-sized newsletter within that timeframe.

Results

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Third
2005	Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)	Raffles Institution	CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School
2006	Victoria School	CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School	Raffles Institution
2007	CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School	Victoria School	Raffles Institution
2008	Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)	Victoria School	Raffles Girls' Secondary School
2009	Raffles Institution	Victoria School	CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School
2010	NPS International School	NUS High School of Mathematics and Science	Raffles Institution

Criticism

The Newspaper and Printing Presses Act of 1974 requires all newspapers to be publicly listed into both ordinary and management shares, with management shares having 200 times the voting rights of ordinary shares and approval from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts needed for any management share transfers. Hence, past chairpersons of Singapore Press Holdings have all been civil servants. In particular, SPH's former executive president Tjong Yik Min served as the head of the Internal Security Department from 1986 to 1993 and prominent political columnist and current political editor Chua Lee Hoong and as well as ex-journalists Irene Ho and Susan Sim are all former ISD employees.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Singapore 144th out of 173 countries in its annual World Press Freedom Ranking in 2008, in line with previous assessments. Lee Boon Yang the Singapore Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts publicly protested against the basis on which Singapore was given the low ranking. He asserted that the local press was running on a "Different media model" from many of the countries gauged by RSF, that has "Evolved out of our (Singapore's) special circumstances" and was being "Non-adversarial" towards the government. George Yeo, when he held the same portfolio as Lee, also stressed that the media was not to be a "fourth estate" in ruling the country (presumably because the media lacks the mandate from the electors); instead, the role of the press was to aid "nation building", in view of Singapore's heterogeneous society and peculiar vulnerabilities as a small nation.

Cherian George, a former art editor of the paper, described press workings in Singapore in a convention conference in 1998 at the University of California, Berkeley:

... the PAP power is hegemonic power, in the Gramscian sense: it is a perfect blend of coercion and consent ... Singapore's newspapers are, at least in part, willing partners, of the state ... the PAP did not suppress the press in order to cover up corruption or hide its mistakes. It did so out of a sincere belief that the press as an institution had a narrow and short-term view of the public interest, and that it could obstruct good government. Singapore's press model thus reverses the equation of your First Amendment. Here, the press, seen as the pure expression of democracy, is protected from the government, which, despite having been elected democratically, is assumed automatically by your political culture to have undemocratic tendencies. In the Singapore model, the elected government is the expression of democracy, and it is protected from the press, which is unelected and therefore undemocratic ... "the 'freedom from the press' model does mean that newspapers must operate within much narrower perimeters than their counterparts in most parts of the world. It must accept its subordinate role in society...The tone of stories must be respectful towards the country's leaders. They can be critical, but they cannot ridicule or lampoon.

Owing to political sensitivities The Straits Times is not sold in neighbouring Malaysia, and the Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times is not sold in Singapore. The ban was imposed before the 31 August 1957 general election in Malaysia. During 1 January 2005 the governments of both countries discussed lifting the ban with Singapore former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew speaking in favour of such a move, although Malaysia politicians were more wary. At one point during an international dispute over the sale of water, the newspaper was banned in Malaysia.

In 1 January 2005, bloggers accused Sandra Davie, the Times Educational Correspondent of plagiarism.

Broadcasting

MediaCorp TV Holdings

SPH has a business interest in free-to-air television with a 20 percent shareholding in MediaCorp TV Holdings Pte Ltd (MediaCorp TV) which operates MediaCorp TV Channel 5, MediaCorp TV Channel 8 and MediaCorp TV Channel U.

Editors

• Editor-in-Chief, English and Malay Newspapers Division, SPH: Patrick Daniel
• Editor: Han Fook Kwang
• Deputy Editor: Alan John
• Digital Media Editor, English and Malay Newspapers Division, SPH: Felix Soh
• Associate Editors: Bertha Henson and Zuraidah Ibrahim
• Foreign Editor: Zuraidah Ibrahim
• Political Editor: Chua Lee Hoong
• Review Editor: Janadas Devan
• News Editors: Carl Skadian and Dominic Nathan
• Money Editor: Ignatius Low
• Life! Editor: Helen Chia
• Sunday Times Editor and Supervising Editor (Digital Life, Mind Your Body and Urban): Sumiko Tan
• Forum Editor: Yap Koon Hong
• Sports Editor: Mathew Pereira
• Straitstimes.com Editor: Joanne Lee
• Art Editor: Angelina Choy
• Picture Editor: Mike Sargent
• Digital Life Editor: Grace Chng
• Urban Editor: Tee Hun Ching
• Mind Your Body Editor: Gloria Chandy

Notable personalities

• Susan Long (Enterprise Editor/Journalist—Wrote an editorial, "NKF: Controversially ahead of its time?", published in The Straits Times on 1 January 2002, which became the subject of the dispute involving the National Kidney Foundation Singapore and SPH, and eventually the lawsuit that led to the National Kidney Foundation Singapore scandal)
• Ching Cheong (Ex-Chief China Correspondent (Now Senior Writer based in Hong Kong Formerly held by Chinese authorities on espionage charges)
• Prudencio Dengcoy Miel (Cartoonist and Senior Executive Artist, SPH)

See also

• New Straits Times
• Singapore Press Holdings

References

• Thio, HR and the Media in Singapore in HR and the Media, Robert Haas ed, Malaysia: AIDCOM 1996 69 at 72-5.

External links

• SPH NewsLink—Archive of Straits Times Articles