Digital newsroom Today will be merged with CNA from October 1 this year. This move will see Today become the digital long-form weekend magazine of CNA.
The merger will not result in any staff cuts, and all of Today‘s staff will be offered roles in CNA, said Mediacorp, the parent company of both publications, in an announcement today (August 28).
Today will focus on producing analytical features on current issues under CNA‘s “Big Read brand”, ground up news features, human interest interviews, as well as opinion pieces to supplement CNA’s current suite of daily digital offerings.
This will help to grow CNA’s traffic and deepen its engagement, particularly on weekends, Mediacorp added.
The Today app and website will no longer be updated from October 1, and all new content will be found on the CNA website and app. However, Today will retain its social media pages, with links diverting audiences to the CNA website.
“This merger comes in a post-COVID landscape defined by a global surge in news fatigue coupled with active news avoidance,” explained Mediacorp Editor-in-Chief Walter Fernandez.
“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.”
Today was first launched as a free morning tabloid in the late-2000s as part of moves to liberalise the local media scene. The brand was part of a joint venture between the Media Corporation of Singapore, SMRT, and SingTel Yellow Pages.
According to The Straits Times, the paper was distributed at MRT stations and bus interchanges, allowing commuters to get their morning news fix on the go.
Within six years, it had become the second-most widely read daily newspaper in Singapore across all languages. The publication discontinued its print edition and went fully digital in 2017, with about 40 staff made redundant at the time.
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