Journalists across news platforms are grouped together to produce local content tailored for the television, radio, print and online media, in a project which literally come together over the last year. Business and sports desks were first, with the NewsHub fully operational at the beginning of last month with the merging of the general news desk.

The team provides ‘one-stop shop’ support for all local news content appearing across TV, print, radio and online platforms which include Channel NewsAsia, ‘Today’, 938Live and award-winning websites including channelnewsasia.com.  Single-point contacts have been introduced for newsmakers – at mediacorpnewshub@mediacorp.com.sg – while journalists gain the opportunity to learn how stories can be treated differently.

Reported by the channelnewsasia.com website, MediaCorp NewsHub director Chitra Rajaram (pictured) says “you can sense the new dynamism and see the synergies” from the environment with editors and reporters “shouting across to each other” in the newsroom.

"For us it's synergies, it's optimising, it's efficiency of services, efficacy of service,” she says. “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 website quotes MediaCorp deputy chief executive Shaun Seow: "In these fast-moving and challenging times where the 24-hour news cycle and plethora of choices compete for the consumers' attention, we had to rethink the traditional business model of providing news. The integrated newsroom is a response to these shifts.

"Convergence is not new to media organizations around the world. It began in Germany but in recent years, The Telegraph in London, Murdoch's News Corporation and the ABC in Australia are convergent success stories.

"MediaCorp has the most comprehensive range of news media platforms in Singapore and the convergent newsroom will help to improve the quality of news output considerably,” he says.