Negotiating OB Markers When Running the Straits Times

Former Straits Times editor-in-chief Cheong Yip Seng tells us how he negotiated OB markers with the government during his tenure (1987–2006), how he balanced the interests of the paper’s stakeholders, and which news story he nearly went to jail for. Cheong Yip Seng is a veteran journalist. He was editor-in-chief of the Straits Times from 1987 to 2006 and editorial adviser to the South China Morning Post from 2012 to 2020. He has written OB Markers: My Straits Times Story and Ink and Influence: An OB Markers Sequel . What Cheong Talked About 00:55 – Podcast introduction 01:48 – Why a sequel to OB Markers 03:21 – Differences between the two books 06:24 – Events leading to Cheong's appointment as editor-in-chief 11:33 – Accusations of the Straits Times (ST) as government mouthpiece 17:16 – Impact of social media on traditional news 18:28 – Cheong's near arrest over a leaked story 20:50 – Hardest decisions as editor-in-chief 21:52 – Importance of ST credibility 24:06 – Cheong's principles in negotiating OB markers 27:40 – Criticisms ST faced over its coverage of the 1987 “Marxist Conspiracy” 29:48 – Cheong’s outlook on ST in the next two decades 33:30 – Why Cheong became a journalist 26:29 – Person who had the greatest intellectual impact on Cheong Transcript and Resources Read the transcript : https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-negotiating-ob-markers-when-running-straits-times-cheong-yip-seng/ Read Cheong's books: OB Markers: My Straits Times Story and Ink and Influence: An OB Markers Sequel Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore. This episode of BiblioAsia Podcast was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Cheong for coming on the show. The BiblioAsia Podcast by the National Library Singapore tells stories about Singapore history.