Let’s change, NSTP tells staff to ‘adjust’ to post-BN era

KUALA LUMPUR:

Staff of the New Straits Times and its two other sister papers were today told to adjust to the “new political environment”, as the pro-Barisan Nasional media group struggles to stay relevant in the wake of the historic defeat of the Umno-led coalition last week.

In a special briefing to staff who returned to work on the first working day after the long post-election break, a source quoted NSTP group CEO A Jalil Hamid as saying there was a need for newspapers to be more in tune with public opinion.

“We need to now adjust editorially. Whether it be content, advertisement sales, production, human resources and so on. We need to transform to the political environment,” he told some 200 employees at the company’s headquarters in Jalan Riong here.

NSTP’s flagship paper, the New Straits Times, was among the hardest critics of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition during the recent election campaign.

On the eve of polling day, Jalil lashed out at Mahathir, describing the PH chairman’s final address from Langkawi as scripted, unnatural, a “massive anti-climax and a letdown”.

Jalil also questioned the number of people who attended Mahathir’s speech physically as well as those who watched it live on Facebook.

“He spoke in a small air-conditioned hall that made the small crowd looked bigger. And he repeated most of his oft-used lines. He broke no new ground.

“Mahathir, or least his social media strategies, have said he would get 10 million viewers on Facebook. In final tally, he acquired just 250,000 views on his FB,” he wrote.

Jalil then praised former prime minister Najib Razak, whose speech was telecast live on major television channels at the same time Mahathir spoke.

“Speaking from the heart, not from autocue, and more naturally from his ancestral home in Pekan, Pahang, Datuk Seri Najib Razak appeared more energetic in delivering his vision for a better Malaysia,” he wrote in the article published on polling day.

In his briefing today to staff from NST, Berita Harian and Harian Metro, Jalil said NSTP dailies had stayed neutral following PH’s victory.

“We provide both sides of the news. The content we have produced since polling has been neutral and impartial,” he said, adding that the present climate offered the company the opportunity to improve its competency.

“We want to bring back the era of the 80s and 90s where we enjoyed freedom,” he said.

“It’s business as usual for us. No restriction on what we can report. We hope to retain readers and attract new readers.

“We are adjusting to a new era in the country.”

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Let’s change, NSTP tells staff to ‘adjust’ to post-BN era

Staff of three dailies published by the pro-Umno media group told in a special briefing to adjust 'editorially' following Barisan Nasional's shock defeat.