Today is a fresh start for The New Paper. 😂

The Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) announced two months ago on Oct. 17 that it will retrench employees and merge My Paper and TNP to form a new TNP, to be distributed for free today on Dec. 1.

Warren Fernandez, Editor-in-Chief of English/Malay/Tamil Media group, said in The Straits Times the merger was “a bold decision to serve our readers with a strong product and with revamped content.”

He added that TNP has a long tradition of remaking itself to stay attuned to readers’ interests and needs and this is part of its DNA.

TNP looks most similar to MyPaper.

On the topic of DNA, Eugene Wee, the TNP editor, reassured readers and unsuspecting readers who thought they picked up Today that TNP "may look different, but rest assured, our DNA has not changed -- you, the reader, are still at the heart of everything we do".

But what is the TNP DNA?

The editorial leadership in the old TNP knows the TNP DNA.

Then Editor-in-Chief Cheong Yip Seng said in his book OB Markers: My Straits Times Story that the formula of TNP was to be “80 per cent entertainment and 20 per cent serious-political but retailed in simple language and infographics.”

Entertainment meant social news, such as “crime, sex and sport, especially English soccer”.

Yesterday, former TNP editor P N Balji eloquently explained what the old TNP editorial approach was -- 1) a "two-trick pony" covering sensational stories and in-depth coverage of football spiced with colourful action graphics and 2) how it reports on the important issues of the day with a different twist.

In his commentary in Yahoo News, the TNP veteran of 12 years said:

"TNP has always been a circulation play, depending mainly on street sales for profitability. Advertisers have always shunned the paper for its content and design. Giving up its entire takings from the sale of the paper for the elusive advertising dollar doesn’t make sense."

Balji also said the new TNP, however, needs to find an editorial gap in the market place to exploit.

"With ST trying to cover all angles, with BT having captured the market for business reporting, with Today providing sharper angles to stories for free and with the online platforms monopolising football news with instant reports, commentaries and action videos, TNP is in for a rough ride".

What is TNP's editorial approach?

Anyway, we are none the wiser about TNP's editorial approach from its new first day.

TNP appeared that they would go a little high-brow and a little political, with an exclusive interview with Speaker Halimah Yacob.

In the interview, Halimah showed that she has not quite gotten over her mum's death, who passed away last year during the General Election 2016 hustings period. Memories of Halimah's late mum still bring tears to her eyes.

But this approach had been tried previously with the recently demised MyPaper.

They have also done exclusive interviews with politicians such as then recently defeated Punggol East MP Koh Poh Koon and SDP leader Chee Soon Juan.

Anyway, here's the answer to our cover photo.

TNP looks like Today too. Somewhat, if you close your eyes.

Both are tabloid-sized and have roughly the same number of pages.

TNP contains 96 pages (92 pages plus a 4-page ad warp-around), while Today is a 94-page read (70 pages plus a 24-page advertorial).

For advertisers, TNP's 65 page of ads indicated its show of strength on its first day. This is comparable to Today, with roughly 63 pages of ads.

For the readers, they will be wondering why these two papers look so similar in terms of its thickness, their news stories and the amount of ads.

The only difference between the two is probably the old uncle/ auntie distributing the papers, for one is wearing the Today red vest, while the other is wearing the TNP orange vest.

In the ambiguous words of the TNP editor, "Today, The New Paper is new again".

So let's just anyhow take one free paper daily only and save the Earth.

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