The Straits Times praised

Singapore doesn’t have a free press, according to organizations such as Freedom House. But The Straits Times newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings has one of the most advanced news websites in the world, according to teachers at Ball State University’s College of Communication, Information and Media (CCIM), one of the biggest media colleges in the US.

Stressing the need for “digital convergence” or multimedia news websites which update round the clock, they say:

Media companies in Southeast Asia and Scandinavia have embraced digital convergence most widely as of mid-2005. In Southeast Asia the leaders include Star Publications in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital; the Nation group in Thailand; the Singapore Press Holdings Group, which publishes the prestigious Straits Times newspaper; and the Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong.

I am quoting from the book, Convergent Journalism: An Introduction, edited by Stephen Quinn and Vincent F Filak. Filak teaches at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana, where Quinn also taught in the past.

The BBC, the Guardian and the Financial Times are among the European leaders in digital convergence, they add, along with the Aftenbladet newspaper in Sweden and the Aftenposten in Norway. Interestingly both Aftenbladet and Aftenposten are published by the same Scandinavian media company, Schibsted, with which Singapore Press Holdings will be developing a new local search engine. It will give information exclusively on Singapore.

American pioneers in digital convergence include the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune and several Florida newspapers, according to the book.

But is it possible to compare news sites from around the world? Click on the links and see.

I check the BBC and the Guardian every day, the Washington Post often, see the RSS feeds from the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune occasionally and visit the Straits Times a couple of times a week. Necessity compelled me to stop subscribing to the newspaper, which has a circulation of 388,500. Now for Singapore news I depend on Channel NewsAsia, a Singapore news channel with a free website. The Straits Times online like the New York Times includes “premium” content, available only to subscribers.