WP to adapt in ‘creative ways’ in evolving media landscape
Amid the changing media landscape, the Workers' Party (WP) will have to find new ways of disseminating information and work with new types of media to reach out to voters in creative ways, said WP Non-Constituency MP Leon Perera yesterday.
"Attention spans are not getting longer, they are probably getting shorter. So we always must experiment and find creative ways to engage audiences."
Mr Perera was speaking about the WP's media strategy and how the party is adapting to changes in the media landscape, in an interview with The Straits Times alongside fellow NCMP Daniel Goh.
The two politicians, who head the WP's media team, were on a visit to ST, along with party chief Pritam Singh. They were hosted by ST editor Warren Fernandez, who is also editor-in-chief of SPH's English/Malay/ Tamil Media Group, and were the latest guests to the recently revamped ST newsroom.
Past guests have included President Halimah Yacob and Communications and Information Minister S. Iswaran.
In a Facebook post after the visit, Mr Singh said the newsroom tour was useful in learning how the paper presents news in the social media age, adding that he was "very impressed with the team that prepares ST's interactive content".
"On a more serious note, opposition parties in Singapore have traditionally had a difficult relationship with the mainstream media.
"The reasons are varied and unsurprisingly, political in nature. Many are rooted in the first generation of PAP leaders' interpretation of the media's role in society.
"Be that as it may, the mainstream media remains an important conduit for getting the party's message out and it was helpful for both sides to engage in some candid sharing," he said.
Mr Fernandez said ST has transformed its newsroom to serve readers better across platforms.
"This means giving them news they can rely on and trust. It also means striving to be fair and balanced in our coverage. So we were happy to host the WP team in the newsroom and share with them how we are transforming into a multimedia operation," he added.
During the tour, the WP leaders were shown how data and analytics are used to track stories that are trending online and identify readers' interests in real time.
They also learnt how stories are presented to the audience through virtual and augmented reality.
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