Talk on media industry

Group photo of UTAR staff and students with Sim (fourth from left) and Datuk Oong (third from right)

The Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR) in collaboration with Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) organised a talk titled “From Local to Global, the Sin Chew Experience” on 29 June 2015 at Sungai Long Campus.

On hand to receive and welcome the guest were CSDCSR Chairperson Dr Falahat Nejadmahani Mohammad, Director of the Institute of Management and Leadership Development, Prof Dr Cheng Ming Yu, FAM Deputy Dean (Academic Development & Undergraduate Programme) Asst Prof Ng Kean Kok, Economics Head of Department Mr Chong Shyue Chuan, and academic staff.

The talk was presented by the Director and co-founder of Centre for Strategic Engagement (CENSE) Sdn Bhd and Industrial Advisor for the Bachelor of Global Economics, Ms Rita Sim. In 2011, Sim was named Woman Super Achiever at the 2nd CMO Asia Awards for Excellence in Marketing and Branding. She was accompanied by Media Consultant, Datuk Oong Boon See.

The purpose of the talk was to expose students to the challenges the media industry faces from a business perspective. She started the talk by explaining to the students and staff how Sin Chew started 86 years ago. She also shared how Malaysia is lacking in terms of international home-grown brand besides Petronas, Royal Selangor and Proton. Thus, the company was considered a successful brand when in the year 2008 they were able to achieve a dual-primary listing on the main board of Malaysia and Hong Kong Stock Exchange simultaneously and the first ever Malaysia company to do so till today.

She further shared the reasons on why a newspaper firm need to be listed and some of the impacts during their listing on Bursa Malaysia. Lastly, she challenged the audience to look into the challenges for the company and the industry as a whole in terms of the growing presence of social media, lower print circulation and the reduction of advertising revenue.

Lastly, during the Q & A session students gave their suggestions to overcome challenges for print media, such as creating headings according to reader’s preferences, using social media to bolster readership, limiting free content and promoting online subscriptions. Whereas from the staff of FAM, there were discussions in terms of the media’s future role in preserving the Chinese language as well as the accuracy and trustworthiness of news reporting.

Dr Falahat presenting a token of appreciation to Sim