Mustapha Kamil named as Group Editor, Yushaimi is Deputy Group Editor of the New Straits Times
16 MARCH 2015 @ 8:08 PM
KUALA LUMPUR: Media Prima Bhd (MPB) has announced the appointment of Mustapha Kamil Mohd Janor as Group Editor of the New Straits Times (NST) and Yushaimi Maulud Yahaya as the deputy group editor of the newspaper.
MPB Group managing director Datuk Seri Amrin Awaluddin said the new appointments will help further raise standards of NST’s print and digital products and strengthen its position as a paper of record with a more compelling content in the face of the challenging media environment. - Read MORE h e r e
I am happy to hear that Mus (pix) and Yush have been appointed to the two top posts in NST but I certainly don't envy these two former colleagues of mine. The NST, the flagship of the New Straits Times Press, is not what it used to be: circulation has dropped to well below 100k copies a day and ad revenues could be better. The best writers and reporters have left for greener pastures. Also, this is probably the hardest time for any media perceived as supportive of the government: readers tend to be more interested to read the "anti" stuff more, even if they do not believe in any of them.
Still, I am confident that the two can do take the paper to another level. For that, they will have to convince their rather conservative directors to agree to whatever radical editorial changes they have in mind.
Interestingly, the top 3 journalists heading NST today did not owe their genesis to NST: Jalil Hamid, whom Mus and Yus report to, made his name at Bernama and then Reuters; Mus was a long time Business Times reporter; and Yus had some solid grounding in the Malay Mail.
Also, this is probably the hardest time for any media perceived as supportive of the government: readers tend to be more interested to read the "anti" stuff more, even if they do not believe in any of them.
ReplyDeleteThe way the NST now writing about the Penang government is more fiction then facts but still cannot sell its papers means readers know they are lying more then the online news portal. The only good thing about NST is the Sunday Times Car, Bus,Truck pullout...that's it
It doesn't matter who is the big boss there is only one way that the paper will survive is to have regulation in place that all government departments must subscribe to the paper, period.
ReplyDeleteThe cost for this is pittance when compares it to what is being spent on 1MDB and also the private jet for the PM. These are just a few examples.
NST & BH were the only papers in my family for many decades.
ReplyDeleteThings have changed.
"The best writers and reporters have left for greener pastures."
Sadly so.
Parking aside all politics, there's a distinct lack of flair and voice in the publication now.
Anyway, I wish these gentlemen well in their new roles. All the best.
Bro,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to both of them. Mus was an insurance students in ITM and for what he is now is something very big...very proud of him. Those who knows him personally, he can be very funny and a very humble guy.
Perhaps he should slant nst to be neutral in their writing to win back their hardcore readers me including. I still buy nst every day plus other mainstream news papers but nst will my last pick and more often than not nst left unread every day. For strange reason, I still requested my admin to include nst in my news papers list everyday.
I can accept nst to pro government but I cannot accept nst to be pro certain leader only. Perhaps this is also a form of "jemuan".
Their news today in bashing the critics of 1MDB is also accelerate their demise. Perhaps when the issue is no longer defencable the best defence is to remain silence. The entire nation is nervous about this issue but nst seemed lived in different planet.
I am sure Mus that I personally know are perfectly aware of what the perceptions and the beliefs of his readers.
Good luck Mus, make me read nst again instead of dropping nst from my news papers list.
readers tend to be more interested to read the "anti" stuff more, even if they do not believe in any of them.
ReplyDeleteThe one's who still believe in MSM are dinosaurs like you. The MSM has loss all credibility and I bid it GRBR.
Rojak kan sikit NST ini. Dulu "supplement" nya banyak mengangkat cerita omputih. Be local. Berganding lah sikit dengan UM atau MM ke. Berpadu dalam berita utama.
ReplyDeleteUntuk perbandingan, lihat saja akbar pembangkan memulas tengkuk orang...he..he.. editor dia pun jenis songsang. PM suke !
Moral nya :- jangan jadi pak kaduk sudah lah..
NST has no reporter worth mentioning other than that the columnist Wan Hulaimi. And the CBT supplyment o. its own is worth buying NST on Sundays. As long as the new top honchos report to Jalil Hamid, bleak times loom ahead.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to both of them. Look forward for more investigative and community stories.
ReplyDeleteNST was never really a paper of record given its cowardly failure to report news as news. Better to outsource it to Pyongyang Times. The subs can replace "dear leader" with "our PM" and readers will not even notice the difference.
ReplyDeleteOn a bright note, there are fewer people who read English now and so NST has smaller outlet for its pro-UMNO propaganda. It is not in NST's DNA anymore to be objective. So you need no longer wonder why it is known as the 'crooked times" and not the "straight times" as it was once called.
"The best writers and reporters have left for greener pastures."
ReplyDeleteIndeed...very noticeable. I can count in one hand the number of NST columnist I still follow. So many are 'syok sendiri'.
And I'm not one of those readers who only read the anti-stuff.