Patrick Daniel to be interim CEO of SPH Media Trust; digital media capacity to be enhanced

PATRICK Daniel, the ex-deputy chief executive officer (CEO) of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and former editor-in-chief of its English/Malay/Tamil Media Group, will be the interim CEO of SPH Media Trust. The new entity will also accelerate its investments on the digital front, said SPH Media Trust chairman Khaw Boon Wan.

The appointment is part of SPH's proposed restructuring, which involves a transfer of the media business to a company limited by guarantee (CLG).

Announcing the appointment on Wednesday, Mr Khaw said his immediate priority is to ensure a smooth and "uneventful" transition.

Mr Khaw said he will also begin a search for a CEO "who can take SPH Media into the future as a multilingual digital media organisation, one who understands both East and West and is Singaporean at heart - and be among the world's best".

"I am grateful to Patrick for agreeing to help us out," Mr Khaw said. "Like me, he is enjoying his retirement. But he has a strong personal interest to see SPH Media succeed."

Mr Daniel began his 30-year SPH career as a reporter at The Straits Times. He later served as the editor of The Business Times, managing editor of English and Malay newspapers and editor-in-chief of the English/Malay/Tamil Media Group along the way. He retired from the company in 2017.

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He said in a statement on Wednesday: "I've felt for some time that being a listed company is no longer the best model for SPH media. I've said that on the record. So I'm personally glad this change is happening. I hope SPH shareholders will approve the plan."

SPH, which publishes The Business Times, had last Thursday proposed a restructuring that involves a transfer of the media business to a CLG - SPH Media Trust. This structure will allow any future profits from the media business to be reinvested into the media operations rather than be distributed to shareholders.

Mr Khaw, who retired from a 19-year career in politics last year, has agreed to be the chairman of SPH Media Trust.

On the proposed structure, Mr Khaw said: "This allows us to retain the financial discipline of a commercial enterprise - so as CLG you are a commercial enterprise - and yet have recourse to funding from the government and other sources for costly investments in digital transformation, which listed company shareholders have no appetite for."

SPH's management shareholders have agreed to form the CLG and be its founding members. Current management shareholders of SPH are OCBC, Great Eastern, UOB, DBS, Singtel, NTUC Income, Temasek via Fullerton, National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

In a speech on Wednesday, Mr Khaw said: "In due course, we will expand the CLG membership to include other established companies, especially those in the digital economy."

The proposed restructuring is subject to SPH shareholder approval, and Mr Khaw said the cut-over date is planned for Sept 1 this year, at the earliest.

Mr Khaw said the experience of media outlets such as The New York Times and Financial Times suggests that serious digital media transformation, while not a panacea, can go some way in building a sustainable future for incumbent media companies which are focused on quality journalism.

"Going digital is, of course, not new to SPH Media, but we now need to step up more decisively to grow our readership rapidly especially among the young," he said. "This will require substantial investments in digital media transformation, investments which take a long time to recoup. The government is willing to help SPH Media build capacity, pilot innovations, and scale up to increase impact and outreach."

Mr Khaw Boon Wan said the new entity would seek the help of digital entrepreneurs to meet the challenges facing the industry.

These challenges include enhancing digital products, growing readership among the young, and increasing digital revenue to counter the decline in print.

"My generation enjoy our morning coffee with an SPH newspaper," he said. "The young prefer a different lifestyle. They access the news at any time of the day, and through a variety of platforms - the phone, the tablet, the computer. They don't even start reading from the front page!"

SPH Media Trust must adapt to their habits and expectations, Mr Khaw said. "As a British media company puts it: we have been 'a print media company with digital products'; we must now decisively become 'a digital media company with print products'".

For this to happen, Mr Khaw said there needs to be a transformational change in mindset.

"Good quality content is still critical, but it is not sufficient. We must now tap digital technology and platforms to actively push it out to reach our subscribers and non-subscribers."

Mr Khaw said SPH Media would look to enhance digital media capacity. This includes having a "first-class digital tech team" to support the transformation; and providing the newsrooms with skills and tools in graphics, video, technology, design and data to make the everyday experience of reading the news more accessible, compelling and engaging.

"I also intend to seek help from digital entrepreneurs. Indeed, when I discussed this subject with Mr Anthony Tan of Grab, he readily offered an expert for us to tap on for advice. And of course I grabbed it immediately!"

Mr Khaw added that he has also spoken to senior professionals from the private sector, and he hopes "a couple of them will come forward to help us by serving on the board of directors".

But he warned that this change would take time. "To give one illustration: I have not yet examined the existing IT infrastructure of SPH Media. I will not be surprised if the legacy IT systems will severely constrain our efforts to immediately enhance the user interface and user experience of our digital products."

Emphasising that SPH Media would work hard to overcome the constraints, Mr Khaw said: "We hope our readers and subscribers will bear with us as we fix and replace the 'digital plumbing and piping'."

In response to questions on potential staff cuts, Mr Khaw said: "Instead of talking about staff cuts and retrenchments, it is just the opposite."

"We actually need to inject additional resources and investments - not in every department - but in certain key departments. Newsroom, I mentioned, but digital transformation requires investments in the appropriate technical area as well."

After the transition has stabilised, Mr Khaw said SPH Media would set up an academy to train recruits and upskill existing staff. He added that SPH would also step up the award of SPH scholarships, not just in journalism but also in digital disciplines.

Even as the push towards digital accelerates, Mr Khaw reassured readers that SPH Media would continue to serve in any format with which they are comfortable.

"While we will push our digital products and our apps aggressively, our print products will still be there in all four languages to accompany your morning coffee."

-- Additional reporting by Claudia Tan

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