Chitchat Why SPH signed its death warrant 17 years ago.

This is an excellent piece of analysis done by foreigner while in NTU. Beside the 2 main reasons cited by the author, I am sure factors that journalists are not necessarily publishers comes to mind and also they did not realise that they previously had near total monopoly on print advertisement. They lost $13m in a year without even reaching a fraction of their focus.

17 years later, the company has gone into properties, rents and healthcare. It shows that in a monopoly you can serve donkey meat as caviar and get away with it. So what exactly did the clowns do in the last 17 years.

SPH journalists can go to their graves knowing that being whores and prostitutes for the PAP is the reason why their peers around the World have trashed them to worse than Zimbabwe for years. And we still have one clown still writing trivia about herself, her husband, his ex-wife and collecting close to half a million dollars a year.


http://marcedge.com/The Failure of Project Eyeball.pdf

Not that anyone in Sph bothers. Everyone from top to bottom is more focus on protecting their ricebowls by avoid getting into the bad book of the authority. Even if the business winds up, they would have either retired or moved elsewhere.

Same mentality for mediacorps. That company that can barely sustain if not for govt propaganda contracts

3_M said:

Not that anyone in Sph bothers. Everyone from top to bottom is more focus on protecting their ricebowls by avoid getting into the bad book of the authority. Even if the business winds up, they would have either retired or moved elsewhere.

Same mentality for mediacorps. That company that can barely sustain if not for govt propaganda contracts

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Many TH companies survive not because they are competitive. They survive because they are well connected and work in a monopoly. Look at M1, Singtel, Starhub. Which is their mother company?.

It is like my left hand fighting with my right hand

That was the first website that tried to take me down. They crucified my site but surprisingly nothing happened at the time.

Its sad that media and journalism which are so important and essential for any society and country to progress and here it is destroying society.

3_M said:

Not that anyone in Sph bothers. Everyone from top to bottom is more focus on protecting their ricebowls by avoid getting into the bad book of the authority. Even if the business winds up, they would have either retired or moved elsewhere.

Same mentality for mediacorps. That company that can barely sustain if not for govt propaganda contracts

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I bet that you never thought they would be going down the drain in this fashion. I remember that Berth claimed that it will address topics that were previously taboo. And yours was a natural target and I suppose for them it was an easy one. I do have to say that you never showed it in those early years the challenge you were facing. It is also interesting that Old Man and team was quietly encouraging the likes of 4 floors of whores etc to keep Singapore attractive and complete. Expats could never understand the dichotomy. The heartland aunties had no idea.

Leongsam said:

That was the first website that tried to take me down. They crucified my site but surprisingly nothing happened at the time.

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Thanks, missed this one. Bertha recently wrote that SPH staff earned more than bankers. Blood money and nothing to do with talent. They even gave scholarship to Oxbridge hoping to capture young talent and convert their morality. It worked for a while but not anymore. Ken Kwek told old man what he thought of him and what he should do and left.

Leongsam said:

http://72.5.72.93/html/article.php?sid=514 Eyeball Closes Posted on Monday, July 02, 2001 Topic: Local News by Pak Cham Kai and Bettina Hensome Project Eyeball, Singapore Press Holdings' paper/website aimed at net-savvy young Singaporeans closed shop last week to few tears from readers' eyeballs. The shutting down came as no surprise to most Singaporeans, especially after an independent media survey conducted earlier this year showed that the paper/website had attracted an audience of exactly one eyeball - belonging to Chia Sior Eng, 18, a full-time National Serviceman. (see archived story) However, even this audience evaporated when Mr. Chia, whose other eyeball is focused on porn sites, decided to devote both eyeballs to www.sammyboy.com instead. "Sorry, lah," said Mr. Chia. "But being in the army has caused me to focus on coverage that is more relevant to my life." Eyeball's editor in chief gave a stiff-upper lip editorial to mark the end of her reign. However, TalkingCock.com managed to unearth the following early draft of the editorial from the rubbish bins outside SPH. YOU BASTARDS! Final Editorial - Version 1.21, Publication date: 27 June 2001 (DO NOT RELEASE before approval from you-know-who) By Chief Editor I-was-arrowed-and-it's-not-my-fault This is the story of a newsroom which tried and tried, and wound up very trying. We tried to put up a newspaper that was different, but provided it met the same guidelines as the rest. We wanted it to speak for the young - mainly the kind of young in Young PAP. However, we found the young would rather be reading sammyboy.com or TalkingCock.com instead. Illiterate, degenerate, ungrateful bastards! We thought that having a photographer who was convicted of statutory rape would improve our street cred, but it was too little, too late. (Which is kind of like our photographer's situation - she was too little, but it was too late for him.) Yes, we screwed up from Day 1. We made the mistake of trying to be a dotcom, but it was at a time when it was okay not to make money. And we thought we had resources that other dotcoms didn't - like getting our holding company to make it compulsory reading for secondary school students. And we made the mistake of looking too much like a technology/Internet only newspaper. But a technology/internet publication whose only interactive features were bulletin boards and quicktime videos of people making sandwiches. Real cutting edge. And how were we to compete against two free newspapers in a country where there are more newspapers than there is news? But still, we tried. Almost everybody here is in their 20s, and they went into this job with outstanding vigour. Today, they are a hardened lot who had the courage and stamina to carry on even when friends were telling them that their job was pointless and just another government idea to make it seem like there was real freedom of choice or expression. But we believe these qualities showed that they had what it takes to make it in Singapore. There were some articles we were particularly proud of, none of which you bastards are likely to remember, but we're proud of them anyway. And over the past 10 months, we had fun. Fun poking fun at Singapore's strait-laced ways as long as it was government-approved. Fun trying to see if we could scoop other newspapers despite our small size. (Answer: not enough times to count.) Fun coming out with the flashiest website with the full multimedia works, and the most elegant looking newspaper in Singapore. Yes, we're arrogant enough to say so. Pity you tasteless philistines didn't agree! But probably the greatest fun was getting reactions from readers who thought we had attitude and were willing to share their views with us. In the spirit of exchange, we're also sharing their names with the Internal Security Department, from whose alumni we also share a good number of staff-members. That's because we believed that Singapore is ready for discussion - discussion of issues that might be considered taboo, like asking the PAP to campaign on the issue of foreign talent, because, really, people aren't too happy with it. (Though how taboo was our coverage when we're taking the PAP's position?) But at the end of day, money talks and we didn't bring in the moolah. (Though one wonders if we would have done better if we used more Singapore slang instead of Angmorified jargon like 'moolah'? But hey, we want to improve Singapore's English, and western colloquialisms are okay but not local ones.) Anyway, that's the way the world works. But don't worry about us. We'll just be absorbed back into SPH's other newspapers, where we will finally get a bit more respect. By the way, if this is your first time reading this newspaper, fuck you! Where were you bastards before? Goodbye. Bastards! Bastards! Bastards!

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It was not just Bertha. This is the guy who was considered the business brains and despite it being a print monopoly. When asked to compete in the digital space and compete for the very firs time in his life, he failed miserably. His projections, targets and pricing was way off. And he did not quit. Wee Cho Yaw wanted him out for the mess. They just pushed him aside and he had no choice but to retire.


SPH Marketing stalwart retires in April 2005 Veteran editor to take over

SINGAPORE, 1 October 2004 - Mr Tham Khai Wor, Senior Executive Vice President of Marketing, will retire from Singapore Press Holdings on 1 April 2005 after 33 years of service, the media group announced today.

Mr Tham’s position will be taken over by Mr Leslie Fong, 55, presently the Editor-at-Large of The Straits Times. He will be appointed Executive Vice President of Marketing from 1 April 2005.

Mr Tham, 60, joined the SPH Group as a Management Assistant with Times Printers Sdn Bhd on 1 February 1972. He moved rapidly up the ranks and was promoted to General Manager on 1 April 1979. In April 1984, he was transferred to SPH Marketing and has headed the Division since.

In his statement announcing Mr Tham’s retirement, CEO of SPH, Mr Alan Chan said: "In his 21 years with SPH Marketing, Khai Wor has contributed much to the success and growth of our newspaper business. It is his desire to retire at this time to pursue his own interests, and I have, with regret, accepted his decision.

"On behalf of the SPH Board of Directors, Management and all staff, I take this opportunity to wish Khai Wor good health and many happy years ahead." But SPH will retain Mr Tham as a consultant to the Marketing Division after his retirement, said Mr Chan.

On his decision to retire, Mr Tham said: "I have had a very challenging and fulfilling career with SPH, but I feel now is as good a time as any to move on and pursue some of my own personal interests.

"I leave with the comfort of knowing that my successor Leslie, who knows the newspaper publishing business well, will do his best to further the interests of the SPH Group. I also want to thank SPH Management for giving me the opportunity to grow in my job, and to all staff in Marketing Division for the trust and support they have given me."

Mr Fong, a veteran editor who has been with SPH for 35 years, will work with Mr Tham from 1 January 2005 to ensure a smooth transition until he assumes the new appointment on 1 April 2005.

He said of his new position: "With humility, I accept this new challenge. I will give it my best shot.

"I’m sad, of course, at having to leave journalism, especially writing. But the opportunity to learn more about and, hopefully, master a different but equally important part of newspaper operations, is too hard to resist."

Mr Fong has held various editorial appointments in the Group, including Editor of The Straits Times and The Sunday Times and Chairman of the Editorial Board of Shin Min Daily News.

Said CEO Alan Chan: "Leslie´s experience in newspapers will be a great asset for him in his new appointment. I have every confidence in his ability to take on this new challenge."

Issued by Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Co. Reg. No. 198402868E

For more information, please contact:

Irene Ngoo
Assistant Vice President
Corporate Relations
DID: 6329 1216
Email: [email protected]

What the fuck does your thread title mean? SPH signed its death 17 years ago? Simi lancheow death warrant? As long as the PAP is in power, IT WILL NEVER FUCKING DIE!!! Understand? Its the PAP propaganda mouth piece, run and managed by PAP porlumpars. The PAP can let NOL go down the drain, but they will never let SPH suffer the same faith as NOL. They need to control the media in SIngapore and SPH is the sole arbiter of the media here for them. Therefore, even if SPH was bleeding cash every year, they will prop it up. This stupid experiment that caused them $13 million a year is sup sup. Every fucking GLC and STAT board has a list of project failures with much greater losses. In the overall pantheon of things, a $13 million loss is peanuts compared to Suzhou, compared to the purchase of President Lines by NOL, compared to the 74.8 million Euro fined on SQ for being a member of a Cargo cartel. etc. and all the other fubas by GLCs.

I suggest to you that you actually research and write an article, like I have done many times before. U can criticize me for being wrong factually or whatever, but no one helps me, I put it out there myself and if the readers like it, then so be it, if they don't then too bad. But all you do is dredge up 17 year old articles and put a stupid thread title on it and pass it off as passable crap? Oh wait................. I forgot, you actually can't write a 2,000 word original article here, because...................you don't got it.

Papsmearer said:

What the fuck does your thread title mean? SPH signed its death 17 years ago? Simi lancheow death warrant? As long as the PAP is in power, IT WILL NEVER FUCKING DIE!!! Understand? Its the PAP propaganda mouth piece, run and managed by PAP porlumpars. The PAP can let NOL go down the drain, but they will never let SPH suffer the same faith as NOL. They need to control the media in SIngapore and SPH is the sole arbiter of the media here for them. Therefore, even if SPH was bleeding cash every year, they will prop it up. This stupid experiment that caused them $13 million a year is sup sup. Every fucking GLC and STAT board has a list of project failures with much greater losses. In the overall pantheon of things, a $13 million loss is peanuts compared to Suzhou, compared to the purchase of President Lines by NOL, compared to the 74.8 million Euro fined on SQ for being a member of a Cargo cartel. etc. and all the other fubas by GLCs.

I suggest to you that you actually research and write an article, like I have done many times before. U can criticize me for being wrong factually or whatever, but no one helps me, I put it out there myself and if the readers like it, then so be it, if they don't then too bad. But all you do is dredge up 17 year old articles and put a stupid thread title on it and pass it off as passable crap? Oh wait................. I forgot, you actually can't write a 2,000 word original article here, because...................you don't got it.

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Tsk tsk tsk. Check your ego dude...............

Debonerman said:

Tsk tsk tsk. Check your ego dude...............

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Ok, Screwedball

Papsmearer said:

Ok, Screwedball

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Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.