Singapore's MediaCorp launches converged newsroom for multiple platforms

Posted by Emma Heald on October 26, 2009 at 3:44 PM

Singapore media company MediaCorp has launched an integrated newsroom called the NewsHub. It aims to group journalists across news platforms to produce local content which is then tailored for print, online, radio or television, reported ChannelNewsAsia.com, part of MediaCorp.

The 'one-stop shop for news content' will produce content for platforms including ChannelNewsAsia, TODAY and 928LIVE. One email address - mediacorpnewshub@mediacorp.com.sg - will provide one point of contact for anyone with news to report to get hold of the team.

Channelnewsasia quoted Dr Chitra Rajaram, director of MediaCorp NewsHub, who said: "You can sense the new dynamism and see the synergies in the midst of editors and reporters shouting across to each other in the newsroom."   She continued,"for us it's synergies, it's optimizing, it's efficiency of services, efficacy of service. For the journalists, a new facet of reporting the news has been opened, and all of them will become conversant in more than one medium. And at the end of the day, when you look at what journalism is all about, it's about telling a story."

The integrated team has been brought together over the last year, starting with the business and sports desks. The general news desk joined the hub on October 1. The NewsHub is the first of its kind in Asia, reported Channelnewsasia.

As the news cycle moves towards 24 hours and news organisations have been forced to increase efficiency, converged print/online newsrooms have become relatively common, such as that at the Guardian. Some news outlets have taken this a step further and integrated their television operations as well, such as MediaGeneral's Tampa outlets: this is the path down which MediaCorp seems to be moving in Singapore.

Source: Channelnewsasia.com