Tuesday, July 04, 2006

MONSTER FROM NST

There's a monster at Balai Berita but it's not who you think it is.

Here, meet Monster, or rather moNSTer. It is NST's ambitious project to try to conquer, first, Malaysia's online media business and, then, the region's.

Given the rich archives of the Balai Berita, this one should get the competition shivering. Another reason is Zainul Ariffin. The former Business Times editor, who was one of the first senior editors removed (to make way for Rajen Moses, a former foreign wire agency and Bernama journalist) by Kalimullah Hassan when he came in as GEIC in 2004, is heading or co-heading the project.

The guy has been doing some hot things for someone sent to freeze in Siberia, turning NST's research centre into what it should be, giving the group's tired pixmen new lease of life, creating intelligent exhibitions that made his bosses smelling like roses last year, and resuscitating the languishing e-Media, among other things.

It's not a secret that the compact NST has failed to rattle The Star (circulation >300,000 copies a day) or The Sun (circulation 230,000 copies). CEO Syed Faisal Albar said when pressed by a shareholder at last week's hot AGM that the compact NST's circulation was "around 145,000 copies", way below expectations (and even that figure was challenged by James Lim, the shareholder in question).

One of the features in the moNSTer portal is a blog project involving Jaring (please see http://www.jeffooi.com/2006/07/new_kid_on_the_blog.php.)

About a dozen widely-followed bloggers in the country, including a Mat Salleh, will be involved in this project. Wonder if they include The Scribe, Screenshots, Aisehman, Raja Petra ..

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:12 pm

    Rocky, kudos to Zainul. NSTP's archive/library is, possibly, one the richest information-based libraries in our country. When we were preraping for the 150th anniversaty of the NST (the paper) in 1995, I took a walk (before walk the talk became a mantra) through NST library, it was amazing. We even had filing on tribal wars in Africa. blogging at dubai airport.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:20 pm

    Rocky!

    I did go to http://www.jeffooi.com/2006/07/new_kid_on_the_blog.php but there's nothing much there. I did click on the word 'Jaring' in Jeff's site but all I got is Jaring saying its doing maintenance here la, there la.

    So, how?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:59 pm

    the trouble with brendan and company is that they thought all old staff deserved to be put to pasture. they lump all the ills of the company on the battled-hardened and weary soldiers. hence their high-handedness in humiliating the old warriors, like you. fortunately they discovered a gem in zainul, albeit a bit late.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:07 pm

    Bro, I am trying to understand the point of this particular post.

    If NST's circulation is below that of their competitors, it would make sense for the NST to launch an initiative to increase their readership, perhaps even leveraging on other media. That would be a fairly obvious expectation, from a business point of view.

    What I don't get is the point of what you have written. Are you saying that this NST initiative is bad for the NST? Or are you saying they are addressing their circulation issues the wrong way?

    I was under the impression that you don't even work there anymore. Would your recent post then suggest a pre-emptive strike at a competitor / former employer?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous2:26 pm

    bro,

    and last but notleast --- zainul ariffin ---.
    when kali was going to axe zainul out of Business Times, he launched a smear campaign on zainul -- kali went around chanting that zainul was lazy, cannot write useless etc etc..so that by the time he kicked zainul out to make way for rajen moses, it would seem very justified.
    he thought he got zainul out of his hair. he did. but zainul went around doing his job, he'd do his job anywhere you put him. he did good. he didnt mean to "lawan taukeh" (which is not difficult). he applied for VSS. But they wouldnt give it to him, because they need him to make them look good. zainul is a pain in the ass. but, they could handle him. not the same with rocky. they couldnt handle rocky.
    anyway.... goood for zainul, and we know he'll do a good job. if it means more money for NST, it means good things for the staff. at least, they got this one right... we hope.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5:28 pm

    Bru

    Thank you for the plug and kind words. The thing is many people know that we are friends, and have gone through quite a bit together, and therefore they are likely to take your posting with a handful of cynicism.

    Nevertheless, I must tell you that NSTP e-Media was doing fairly OK before I was transferred there. Also in all the programmes and projects that I have been involved in there were a lot of people who pitched in considerably, too. The same goes for the alleged ghoul or monster or hantu project, which you alluded to.

    On conquering Malaysia’s on-line business, and the region (!), well, Bru, I am not too sure about that. E-Media is a small company in an industry dominated by telco and media giants.

    I am, though, a great believer in technology, and it would be a shame if we let inertia rules us.

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous9:02 pm

    Encik Rocky, tak kisahlah NSTP nak conquer on-line business ke Asia ke, dunia ke, kita pakat sokong je. I tertarik dengan Berita Harian yang dah empat hari turut-turut pakai cerita Mawi putus tunang di muka depan. Bagi pihak pembaca saya ucap tahniah kerana memberi maklumat terperinci mengenai kisah sebelum putus dan selepas putus tunang. Kalau berita itu dijadikan berita utama muka satu adalah lebih baik sebab Mawi ramai peminat dan tentu ingin tahun perkembangan penyanyi itu. Saya cadangkan supaya Berita Harian jadi "orang tengah" ata "pendamai" untuk menyatukan semula Mawi dan tunang dia. Datuk Manja Ismail boleh jadi wakil Berita Harian. Kita mendoakan agar misi Berita Harian ini berjaya menyatukan semula sepasang kekasih ini. Ini adalah satu sumbangan mulia Berita Harian yang boleh menempa sejarah akhbar itu.

    GredB

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:25 pm

    This is what the NST's bloated research department should have done when it was set up decades ago under "I'm a failed journalist who would've done better as a career diplomat" PC Shivadas. Instead, dozens of overqualified researchers were engaged to conduct vanity polls on the order of 'Where can you find the best roti canai in Malaysia?'

    Actually, when it comes to IT, NST have always been clueless. They struggled to get online in the '90s while The Star forged ahead with their online agenda. And when they finally joined the wired world, they operated on the misguided assumption that people would pay to read yesterday's news. What a bunch of losers!

    They may have a treasure-trove of information in their repositories, but as long as the clowns in their research department keep calling the shots, none of the invaluable stuff will ever make it online.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6:02 am

    for a long, long time, nst has been all talk, talk, but no action. it has all the facilities and muscle to make itself felt but somehow or rather, bureaucrats and half-past-six people are running the show. the nst must sack the whole lot. Stop sleeping while the world moves on. now the nst must walk the talk, talk the talk and walk the walk, or whatever. please stop sleep walking. nst, wake up man, wake up. now is the time to promote the gems in the company. the gems are the ones who have brains, the ones behind the scene.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous11:47 am

    Gred B,

    Bukankah Mawi dan Siti itu segala-galanya dalam dunia orang Melayu. Baik Berita Harian mahupun Utusan berlumba-lumba siar berita Mawi dan Siti. Kita pun tak tau apa yang kita dapat belajar daripada berita-berita macam ni yang diperbesar-besarkan. Kebaikannya kah atau keburukannya? Melayu, melayu. Bukan apa, Mawi pelaghih paper. La ni, perjuangan akhbar berkiblatkan artis bukan lagi soal hidup atau mati rakyat sejagat. Dah jadi macam magazine lah. Kalau magazine hiburan perbesaq ceghita artis dah memang patutlah jugak tapi kalau paper pun dah ikut stail majalah, aku tak tau naka kata apa.
    Orang lain sibuk ceghita pasai teknologi online dan research materials, orang Melayu asyik dibuai mimpi Mawi dan Siti.
    Saya tahu ada pengarang Melayu yang garang sikit dan tak berapa suka dengan hal-hal remeh ni tapi takut pulak pada bos. Ya lah tempat cari makan...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous1:58 pm

    To anak melayu: Saya juga kecewa dgn apa yang sedang berlaku. At the very least, kalau Mawi tu as good as arwah P.Ramlee ka, arwah Sudirman ka, takpa la jugak... I boleh telan...

    Antara yang teruk (dan bertambah teruk dari hari ke hari) ialah The Malay Mail, yg mana suatu ketika dahulu adalah the only suratkhabar yg saya baca.

    Skrg, ianya tidak kurang bezanya dgn buletin kolej/university, memaparkan berita-berita yg remeh-temeh dan tak berbaloi untuk saya berbelanja RM1. Tambah 20sen, dapat The Star.

    Adalah sedih pada saya untuk melihat The Malay Mail spt seorang yg sewaktu mudanya sangat cerdik, berbadan sihat, tegap dan kuat dan sangat berjaya di dalam bidang yg diceburinya. Macam Muhamad Ali laa!

    Skrg, orang itu spt sudah terkena Parkinson's Disease - terperangkap di dalam dunianya yg tersendiri, tidak mengendahkan keadaan dirinya, persekitarannya dan juga tidak dapat melakukan apa-apa dgn sendiri untuk mengubati atau mengurangkan penyakitnya dari bertambah teruk, melainkan dgn bantuan orang lain.

    Khabar terbaru yg saya terima hari ini ialah NSTP management is thinking of giving away The Malay Mail for free, a la The Sun. Betul ke ni?

    At MM, morale is low. The reporters are disgusted with the way some of their 'Specialist Writers' (read: Hotline story clearers aje, most of the time) are behaving, treating the reporters like junior boy/girl scout while they are the troop leaders and the newspaper belongs to their daddies.

    Some, if not all, of the reporters have already sent out their CVs all over the town, in a hurry to blahh. I wish them lots of luck.

    I was told by a friend in NSTP before MM degenerated into what it is today, the management was considering merging it into NST, like what they did to Business Times a few years ago. But somehow tak jadi.

    The way I see it, the only thing that can be done to MM is break away from the NSTP group, like Sdr AKJ's (a.k.a 'The Scribe') Berita Publishing. Selagi it is still in NSTP, it will forever be NST's rival sibling.

    "Oi! How come Harian Metro doing well, despite under B.Harian?" you may ask?

    Well, HM is catered to the worse morons (yes, there exist) than the ones who read BH. That's why it has all the Q&A on masalah selaput dara, zakar, keputihan, kegatalan di celah sini dan sana, ketidakpuasan dgn pasangan, etc, etc.

    Oh gosh! I don't wish to be around when MM becomes the English version of HM simply to stay alive and 'different' than NST!

    Imagine that! Haha!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous3:52 pm

    saudara anonymous,

    We feel sad too over what has become of the Malay Mail. How it has degenerated into a trashy paper.
    Thats what happens when you let amateurs run it -- Syed Faisal as CEO and whats-his-name Zul FHM or something as COO or whtever.
    When Rocky left (was made to leave)
    the Malay Mail, we knew that that was going to spell the doom of MM.
    And then many (MM) people took the VSS.
    At least we hv Yushaimi around and some trueblue journalists.
    But, with the way things are going, it wont be long before the Malay Mail becomes a statistic..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous8:49 pm

    MM was doomed a long time ago, with circ hovering at 35K. Nothing to do with the editorial : NST cannibalised MM - look at NST today - ciplak MM-style.

    the new mm is no longer a newspaper: see it differently, as a newsmagazine.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous10:28 am

    Bang, Malay Mail tu bukan priority bagi CEO, Berita Harian pun bukan priotity bagi CEO, NST pun bukan priority bagi CEO. Sebetulnya, dia tak tau apa priority dia pun. Nampak dia pun macam blur je. GEIC patutnya bagilah petunjuk tapi GEIC pun blur juga. TAKDAK IDEA LANGSUNG. Macam mana lah Kalimullah pilih dia jadi GEIC. Menyesal salah pilih kut. Kalau pilih Zainul Ariffin dulu kan bagus. MESTI, GUARANTEE ada idea punyalah. Dua tiga tahun dulu, nampak juga lah cahaya di hujung terowong yang saham NST akan naik, tapi hari ini dengan terowong-terowong sekali dah tak nampak.

    GredB

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous2:33 am

    suara orang lama dari USA.....

    saya ada-lah pembaca MM ketika saya muda-muda di-Malaysia dahulu. memang ia-nya satu-satu-nya akhbar yg saya baca selain dari utusan melayu (untok melancharkan dan tidak mahu di-labelkan sebagai bodoh sombong di-sebabkan tidak mahu membacha akhbar bertulisan jawi) dan the 'rocket'. utusan melayu buat sarapan dan MM buat 'lunch break'. saya maseh berusaha mendapatkan dan ber'subscribe MM selama 5 tahun pertama berada di-USA (tahun permulaa 80'an). setelah itu saya dapati MM sudah sediket demi sediket berubah dari segi kualiti dan isi kandong-nya. saya kerap memandingkan isi surat akhbar malaysia dan surat akhbar keluaran tempatan (USA) apabila saya tunjokkan kepada teman-teman bukan berbangsa malaysia, mereka tersenyum sumbeng dan jawaban yg saya tanya tentang akhbar malaysia agak memalukan chendiakawan malaysia. cara penyampaian-nya terlalu tipis, dan keterlaluan memberatkan cherita dongeng (tabloid style). ada-kah ini disebabkan tapisan sensitiviti yang keterlaluan? baru-baru ini saya mendapat sekeping mm yg di-bawa dari malaysia oleh sa-orang teman yg baharu pulang dari menziarahi malaysia buat seketika. sunggoh memalukan, surat khabar yg tidak lekang dari kochek belakang jean saya ketika muda-muda dahulu, sudah tidak serupa isikandung dan bentok rupa-nya lagi. lebeh elok dari isi kandong publikasi yang saya baca dari sebuah sekolah di johor (batu pahat high school) 30 tahon dahulu.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous2:34 am

    suara orang lama dari USA.....

    saya ada-lah pembaca MM ketika saya muda-muda di-Malaysia dahulu. memang ia-nya satu-satu-nya akhbar yg saya baca selain dari utusan melayu (untok melancharkan dan tidak mahu di-labelkan sebagai bodoh sombong di-sebabkan tidak mahu membacha akhbar bertulisan jawi) dan the 'rocket'. utusan melayu buat sarapan dan MM buat 'lunch break'. saya maseh berusaha mendapatkan dan ber'subscribe MM selama 5 tahun pertama berada di-USA (tahun permulaa 80'an). setelah itu saya dapati MM sudah sediket demi sediket berubah dari segi kualiti dan isi kandong-nya. saya kerap memandingkan isi surat akhbar malaysia dan surat akhbar keluaran tempatan (USA) apabila saya tunjokkan kepada teman-teman bukan berbangsa malaysia, mereka tersenyum sumbeng dan jawaban yg saya tanya tentang akhbar malaysia agak memalukan chendiakawan malaysia. cara penyampaian-nya terlalu tipis, dan keterlaluan memberatkan cherita dongeng (tabloid style). ada-kah ini disebabkan tapisan sensitiviti yang keterlaluan? baru-baru ini saya mendapat sekeping mm yg di-bawa dari malaysia oleh sa-orang teman yg baharu pulang dari menziarahi malaysia buat seketika. sunggoh memalukan, surat khabar yg tidak lekang dari kochek belakang jean saya ketika muda-muda dahulu, sudah tidak serupa isikandung dan bentok rupa-nya lagi. lebeh elok dari isi kandong publikasi yang saya baca dari sebuah sekolah di johor (batu pahat high school) 30 tahon dahulu.

    ReplyDelete