SINGAPORE - Amid increasing competition for eyeballs in the changing media landscape, the merger of online publication Today with CNA may make financial sense, but could also result in even less diversity in the local media landscape, analysts told The Straits Times.

They were commenting on the move to do away with Today as a standalone website. From Oct 1, the outlet will merge with CNA to become a long-form weekend magazine.

Announcing the move on Aug 28, Mr Walter Fernandez, editor-in-chief of Mediacorp – which owns both news outlets – had attributed Today’s fate to the worldwide increase in news fatigue and active news avoidance.

These trends had been exacerbated by changes to social media algorithms that deprioritised news, and there was also a significant increase in the overlap between the audiences of Today and CNA, he added.

Media experts who spoke to ST about the merger were mostly not surprised about the consolidation. Some noted that there had been rumours of Today’s possible closure for years, since it went fully digital in 2017.

In 2020, Today revamped its logo in a bid to make it more vibrant and bold, as part of its pivot from targeting professionals, managers, executives and businessmen to a younger audience.

At the time, Today deputy chief editor Loh Chee Kong, who is now chief editor of Today and CNA Digital, said in interviews that the paper would be focusing on millennials aged 25 to 34.

Commenting on the merger, Dr Carol Soon, principal research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies department of society and culture, said Today had differentiated itself from ST and CNA, such as through its Big Read in-depth features and human interest interviews, but this was “clearly... insufficient to sustain the newsroom”.

With influencers and content creators becoming the new “agenda-setters”, newsrooms in general will come under greater pressure to stay relevant and keep their audiences, she noted.

Against this backdrop, media experts said merging newsrooms will help streamline resources and improve financial viability, but warned that this could result in fewer options for readers and less diversity in opinions.

While Today will retain its social media pages after the merger, its app and website will no longer be updated come Oct 1. All links will point to the CNA website and app, where the new content will reside, said Mediacorp in a statement.

Today’s current team will also move over to CNA.

Dr Wu Shangyuan, lecturer and media researcher at the National University of Singapore’s department of communications and new media, said the end of Today could make Singapore’s media landscape – dominated by the two large mainstream players SPH Media, publisher of The Straits Times, and Mediacorp – even less competitive than it already is.

“The concern here is whether this lack of competition would cause journalists to become less driven in their jobs – to chase down difficult stories, pitch new and innovative story ideas, and work hard to get exclusives,” she said. “There is no one they are necessarily competing with, and hence, no real need for them to stand out in their coverage.”

NUS new media and digital civics researcher Natalie Pang said that with fewer newsrooms, there will also be fewer options for publicists and freelance journalists. But she added that it is important to look at the entire media landscape and noted that the number of non-legacy media options has been growing steadily, contributing to the diversity of opinions, ideas and voices.

Sheridan Institute professor of politics and communication Terence Lee, who is based in Perth, Australia, said Singapore’s media landscape, with two dominant mainstream players, “hasn’t been too competitive as it stands”.

“But having different players in the media market can nevertheless lead to improved journalism, so it remains to be seen if the merger would weaken reporting standards,” he said.

He added that while the Today and CNA merger makes economic sense, he did not think there would be any appetite for further mergers in the Singapore media landscape.

In a less diverse environment, newsrooms will need to relook how they should differentiate themselves, said some analysts.

Dr Howard Lee, a lecturer from Murdoch University’s School of Media and Communication, suggested that publications might choose to offer diverse perspectives and story angles in, for instance, feature stories and in-depth commentaries.

Meanwhile, Dr Soon said newsrooms will need to look at engaging with their audiences through different products, such as documentaries and podcasts, and telling human interest stories in relatable ways that make an impact on the lives of individuals and communities.

Today was the last surviving “freesheet” launched by mainstream media outlets in the 2000s as part of moves to liberalise the local media scene.

Singapore Press Holdings, now SPH Media, had first launched the Streats free newspaper, and both papers were distributed at MRT stations and bus interchanges, targeting busy commuters on the go.

In 2004, Streats was merged with Today, with SPH taking a 40 per cent stake in Today’s publisher, Mediacorp Press. This stake was divested in 2017.