Time to talk about talent retention in Singapore’s newsrooms

“Exodus” is a word journalists use a lot when reporting on talent retention problems.

In 2019, there was an “exodus” of 30 staff from SMRT. The year before, an “exodus” of lecturers from the National University of Singapore. And in January, The Business Times reported an “exodus” of young lawyers.

When it comes to our own talent issues, however, reliable information and official figures are scarce.

Yet we all seem to know our newsrooms are losing good people. Just last Thursday, The Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez told an industry forum "our biggest challenge" is retention.

“When journalists become known entities, they become very attractive to many, many organisations; and people have choices and many places to go to do their craft,” he said at the New.Now.Next Media Conference here held by the Asia chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).

A survey earlier this year by media intelligence platform Telum Media found about a third (33%) of Singapore journalists hoped for a move in the next year. Less than half (44%) would recommend their own careers to others.

For this month’s Off The Record, I asked 4 former journalists and 2 current editors from Singapore’s 2 largest news groups – Mediacorp and SPH Media – why they think the industry has this problem.

They did not mince words. Their responses suggest a need for structural change that goes beyond better pay to create an environment that nurtures purpose and passion.

Beyond pay and hours

Pay and hours are issues in any talent retention problem in any industry.

Many journalists see peers in other industries earn more, with higher increments, with one editor calling compensation “a perennial problem”.

And the profession is demanding; journalists can’t just work from their desks, and news breaks at all times. “It isn’t a 9-to-5 job,” another editor said.

One former journalist left after nearly a decade because she wanted a job that would allow her to spend more time with family and friends.

But there is more to the story.

A recent pay revision exercise across SPH Media newsrooms – to make salaries more competitive – has not stopped several reporters from leaving.

For many in this profession, pay comes second to meaning. But finding that meaning can be a challenge.

Editors and journalists alike said they struggled with the delicate dance required for “political sensitivities and balance".

One journalist began to question himself. “Sometimes it felt like we were less accountable to the public than to the government,” he said.

Whether perceived or real, one editor said, such barriers or pressures become a mental burden that disillusions journalists.

Newsrooms running at full speed also neglect creating opportunities for personal growth, mentorship and career development. One journalist said these aspects were not clearly built into her role.

“I realised that if I didn’t move, I’d probably just be filing stories for years and years; and maybe I’ll get faster at it, or more efficient, but that’s it,” she said.

Journalists hoping to learn new skills or try their hands at different things typically have to seek such experiences outside the organisation.

Departures have also left newsrooms with insufficient experience to guide newer joiners. Meanwhile, some editors simply "have not caught up with the times” in terms of how to effectively guide the new generation of reporters today, one editor said.

Demand and supply

All 4 former journalists I spoke to left the profession for communications-related roles. This is unsurprising. “Crossing to the dark side”, as it is sometimes humorously referred to, has long been an obvious next career for journalists.

But the demand for people who can research, analyse, and tell a compelling story has increased in recent years.

Everyone from tech conglomerates to startups to crypto exchanges wants to control the narrative and be regarded as thought leaders in their own domains. And the way to do that is through content.

Big Tech is also competing directly with publishers – for both ad revenue and talent. In April, LinkedIn announced it would soon have hired almost 200 people to curate and create content for its LinkedIn News feature.

One consequence of losing experienced journalists is a loss in breadth and depth of journalism that comes only from institutional memory and a deep understanding of Singapore’s unique interests and context. This diminishment may not seem urgent, but the cost to public life and identity is priceless.

More tangibly and immediately, seasoned journalists who move into commercial content creation take with them years of experience and contacts. But the converse rarely happens: few, if any, mid-career professionals from other industries switch into journalism.

This means editors spend a lot of their time training new hires, which can be draining and also affects the quality of journalism.

So, Fernandez, who also heads SPH Media’s English, Malay and Tamil Media Group, is right: There is no shortage of demand for journalistic skills. Much of that demand is from outside newsrooms.

More than just a job

What, then, can newsrooms do?

One theme shone clear through all the conversations I had: Journalism is more than just a job.

Being paid reasonably is a necessary, but not a sufficient, factor. As a former ST journalist told me, no one really joins journalism for the money.

It is also clear that local media companies, already struggling to find resources for much-needed transformation, can’t match deep-pocketed multinational and tech companies on pay, hours and perks.

What can we compete on?

“The most important thing is to create an environment where you retain or nurture purpose and passion,” one of the former journalists said.

At Thursday’s AAJA event, South China Morning Post executive managing editor Zuraidah Ibrahim said managers sometimes overlook the important need to groom the next generation amid the daily grind.

“The Internet has accelerated young journalists’ learning to such a degree that they feel ready for new opportunities and challenges after maybe just a year or 2 on the job,” she said, comparing it with a longer career timeline in her generation.

Calling it a “generational or cultural” issue, Zuraidah, who was deputy editor at ST, said it was up to managers to deal with the disconnect by creating room and a sense of challenge to keep younger colleagues engaged, even while maintaining journalistic standards.

Former and current journalists also suggested more mentoring between senior and junior journalists, not chasing “useless” stories, and having a more structured training and progression framework.

But a nurturing environment needs to go beyond the newsroom to the wider “media ecosystem”.

It is clear from both deed (as evinced by government funding for SPH Media) and word that Singapore’s leaders understand the need to support and retain an independent media.

However, one editor said that this needs to extend into the day-to-day. "Government-press interactions need to evolve,” he said. A former reporter also asked for more “trust” that journalists can do their jobs.

Newsrooms need to treasure and uphold the values and ambitions that draw people to join journalism in the first place: “purpose”, “passion”, “meaningful impact”, “a calling”.

This means creating conditions that enable journalists to work with more freedom, to grow, and to contribute to society.

Failure to do so will not only chase talented reporters into the arms of waiting tech giants, but also impoverish our national public discourse.

Off The Record is a monthly column by BT’s editors on the modern news industry from an insider’s perspective. We welcome feedback and suggestions at btnews@sph.com.sg.