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A LAST LOOK
By Bertha Henson THIS
is the story of a newsroom which tried. We
tried to put up a newspaper that was different. It would have a
voice, we would speak for the young, we would dare to be different.
Yes,
we started stumbling from Day 1. We made the mistake of hitching
ourselves onto the dotcom bandwagon. And although we're pretty proud
of our website, you know what websites are like - they don't make
money.
And
we made the mistake of looking too much like a technology/Internet
only newspaper.
Of
course, there were business decisions that on hindsight seemed
pretty screwy -- in a market which also saw the launch of two free
sheets, the 80-cent cover price was too high.
But
still, we tried. Almost everybody here is in their 20s, and they
went into this job with outstanding vigour. Today, they are a
hardened lot who had the courage and stamina to carry on even when
the going was rough.
There
were some articles we were particularly proud of, like disclosing
news of a top secret survey to evaluate students views' on national
identity and the quiet closure of Singapore's only sex change
clinic.
And
over the past 10 months, while the work was hard, we had fun. Fun
poking fun at Singapore's strait-laced ways Christmas carol-style.
Fun trying to see if we could scoop other newspapers despite our
small size. Fun coming out with the flashiest website with the full
multimedia works, and the most elegant looking newspaper in
Singapore. Yes, we're arrogant enough to say so.
But
probably the greatest fun was getting reactions from readers who
thought we had attitude and were willing to share theirs with us.
We'd
like to think that we gave them the latitude to air their sometimes
rational, sometimes irrational views -- and we printed them too.
That's
because we believed that Singapore is ready for discussion -
discussion of issues that might be considered taboo, like asking the
PAP to campaign on the issue of foreign talent, because, really,
people aren't too happy with it.
But
at the end of day, money talks. And we're not bringing in the moolah.
But that's the way the world works.
Maybe,
we're a paper ahead of its time.
By
the way, if this is your first time reading this newspaper, we
wouldn't blame you. Because one other screwy thing about Eyeball is,
we were pretty hard to find.
After
today, we'll no longer be found.
Goodbye.
At getforme.com, we preserve the present for the future generation.
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