After spending the last 20 years building two of Singapore’s most successful newspaper start-ups, veteran editor P. N. Balji is turning his attention to professional development as the Director of the new Asia Journalism Fellowship at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
Under the Fellowship, supported by Temasek Foundation, up to 15 accomplished journalists from across Asia will spend a three-month sabbatical in Singapore at NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. Fellows will be given the opportunity to pursue their own intellectual interests away from the usual deadline pressures of their jobs. The programme also includes seminars and workshops to sharpen professional skills and deepen participants’ understanding of latest trends in media and communication at a time of rapid and sweeping change.
“I still remember my fellowship with Wolfson College in Cambridge University in early 1988,” said Mr Balji, who is 59. “Twenty years later, I look back with great joy the intellectual stimulation and the networking that I took back with me. I hope the NTU fellowship will do the same for the 15 journalists who will be here for three months.”
Applications for the inaugural programme, which will run from February through April 2009, close on 15 November 2008. Details can be found at www.ajf.sg.
Mr Balji took up the appointment on 1 November, the day after he ended his term with MediaCorp, where he had been serving as Editorial Director of the company’s news operations.
“Balji is an extremely talented journalism professional who has plenty of good options in the media industry,” said the Chair of the Wee Kim Wee School, Associate Professor Benjamin Detenber. “We are delighted that he’s chosen to give back to the profession through our School.”
Mr Balji entered journalism in 1970 when he joined the Straits Times group in Malaysia as a cadet journalist for the Malay Mail. He moved to the group’s New Nation paper in Singapore the following year, rising steadily up the editorial ranks. From 1982 to 1988, he was deputy editor of the The Straits Times, the country’s national daily and the largest English-language paper in Southeast Asia.
However, it was his leadership of underdog titles that sealed his reputation as one of the sharpest news men in the business. He helped Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) launch The New Paper in 1988, serving as the deputy editor of the afternoon tabloid. As its editor from 1991 to 2000, he pushed its circulation up to the 100,000 mark.
In 2000, he embarked on an even riskier project. He joined MediaCorp to help the national broadcaster, enter the newspaper market. As its chief executive officer and editor in chief from 2000 to 2003, Mr Balji achieved with TODAY what no newspaper had done in a century: challenge the formidable Straits Times for a share of the daily morning market, and survive.
Mr Balji will continue his involvement with industry as a consultant to The Jakarta Post and to MediaCorp’s integrated advertising sales arm. His new and diversified portfolio of projects also includes recently becoming a grandfather.
Links: ‘Farewell to a veteran’, TODAY, 1 Nov 2008: http://www.todayonline.com/articles/284771.asp
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