TODAY to merge with CNA, become digital long-form weekend magazine

SINGAPORE — Digital media outlet TODAY will be merged with the CNA digital newsroom from Oct 1, Mediacorp said in a statement on Wednesday (Aug 28).
After the merger, TODAY will become the digital long-form weekend magazine of CNA.
Mediacorp said: “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.”  
TODAY will focus on producing analytical features on current issues under the well-regarded Big Read brand, ground-up news features, engaging human interest interviews, as well as opinion pieces every weekend. 
These will supplement CNA’s current suite of daily digital offerings and help to grow CNA’s traffic and deepen its engagement, particularly on weekends.
Mediacorp’s editor-in-chief Walter Fernandez said: “This merger comes in a post-Covid landscape defined by a global surge in news fatigue coupled with active news avoidance.  
“These trends have been exacerbated by changes to the algorithm of selected social media platforms to de-emphasise news by reducing its discoverability.
“At the same time, the overlap between the TODAY and CNA digital audiences has also increased significantly over the past two years.” 
The merger will not result in any manpower cuts. All of TODAY’s staff members will be offered roles in CNA.  
TODAY was first launched in late 2000 as a newspaper, with a mission to “Set You Thinking”. 
Within six years, it was the second most widely read daily newspaper in Singapore across all languages. 
In 2017, it became the first newspaper in Singapore to embrace a fully digital future, as it discontinued its print edition. 
Since then, it has gained recognition domestically and abroad as a trusted news brand with an accessible tone of voice, particularly among the youth. 
Over the last few years, TODAY has won international accolades for its use of short-form video on TikTok and its online seminar series on the findings of its annual youth survey. TODAY has also won awards in Singapore for financial reporting and its coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the statement, Mediacorp’s chief commercial officer Jacqui Lim assured the many long-time advertisers in TODAY that they would be offered competitive, alternative advertising solutions across the Mediacorp network including the stable of news brands that includes CNA, 8 World, Berita and Seithi.  
She added: “This strategic move reflects our long-standing commitment to an audience-first approach for advertisers. 
“We are constantly refining our offerings to ensure we have an effective range of innovative solutions. Brands and advertisers who partner us can look forward to meaningful and relevant media and content opportunities within our integrated portfolio.”