MANILA, Philippines–Manila Standard Today (MST) is relaunching with a new, smaller format early next year in a bid to shore up prospects in an industry beset by falling readership.
MST’s management announced Wednesday that the downsized broadsheet would have a new incarnation online, to differentiate it from other news portals in a burgeoning journalistic ecosystem in cyberspace.
MST chair Benjamin Philip Romualdez said the newspaper would be renamed “The New Standard” by its 28th founding anniversary on March 14, 2015.
The “print version now comes in a compact, tallboy size,” Romualdez said.
Insiders explained that inspiration was taken from The New York Post, and that the paper size is 7 columns by 40 centimeters.
With pictures presented at the forefront, the new format is described as bigger than a tabloid but smaller than a broadsheet—“very compact and very visual.”
“Rather than compete with the big broadsheets, the MST might as well [strike its own path with the use of] cutting-edge technology for a seamless integration of offline and online platforms,” Romualdez told a gathering topbilled by politicians, diplomats and business leaders at the New World Hotel in Makati City.
Romualdez said that articles in the newspaper would also be seen online through “The Social Standard,” which he described as a portal that would enable readers to actively participate in the discussion.
“This portal encourages readers to participate, comment, research, interact, contribute and drive positivity—change that can only happen when readers dive into issues,” he added.
Among the crowd during the soft launch were Senators JV Ejercito, Sonny Angara and Nancy Binay as well as Tessy Sy-Coson and Hans Sy of the SM group, a big advertising spender. Binay’s brother Junjun, the mayor of Makati City, was also there.
Also present were Manuel V. Pangilinan, whose group has significantly invested in media organizations such as Philippine Star and BusinessWorld, and Philippine Daily Inquirer president Sandy Prieto-Romualdez.
“We welcome another participant that will make the media industry more active and more dynamic,” Pangilinan told reporters. “It’s always good to have more players that will introduce new ideas and perspectives.”