News outlet Today to merge with CNA and become digital weekend magazine

SINGAPORE — Online publication Today will be merged with CNA come Oct 1, becoming a long-form weekend magazine.

The move was announced on Aug 28, with Mediacorp saying in a statement: "This merger will allow the best of Today — its high-quality original journalism — to be served via CNA's digital platform to the significantly larger CNA audience both in Singapore and overseas."  

In a note seen by The Straits Times, Mediacorp editor-in-chief Walter Fernandez said all staff will be offered roles in CNA, either as part of the team working on the new weekend digital magazine or strengthening other teams, which best fit their skill sets.

"This move... will also help to grow CNA's already significant digital traffic and further deepen its engagement, particularly on weekends," Fernandez said.

In his note, Fernandez said different options were explored in the past year before the merger was decided on.

He attributed the decision to the worldwide increase in news fatigue and active news avoidance, which he said have been further exacerbated by changes to the algorithms of selected social media platforms to de-emphasise news and reduce its discoverability.

He also said there was a significant increase in the overlap between the audiences of Today and CNA Digital.

Today was first launched as a free morning tabloid in November 2000, as part of moves to liberalise the local media scene. It was part of a joint venture between the Media Corporation of Singapore, SMRT and SingTel Yellow Pages.

The paper was distributed at MRT stations and bus interchanges, tailored for busy commuters to get their morning news fix on the go.

It went fully digital in October 2017, with about 40 staff made redundant at the time.

Fernandez said he was excited about this next phase of the publication's evolution.

[[nid:683767]]

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.