Suggestions
Warren Fernandez
Editor In Chief at The Straits Times
Warren Fernandez is a seasoned journalist and media executive who served as Editor-in-Chief of The Straits Times, Singapore's largest English daily newspaper, from 2012 to 2022.14 He joined The Straits Times in 1990 as a political reporter and rose through the ranks, becoming News Editor, Foreign Editor, and Deputy Editor.26
Fernandez holds a First Class Honours degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University and a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.17 His career includes a stint at Royal Dutch Shell from 2008 to 2012 as a Global Manager for its Future Energy project.67
During his tenure at The Straits Times, Fernandez led the newspaper's digital transformation and served as Editor-in-Chief of the English/Malay/Tamil Media group at Singapore Press Holdings from 2016 to 2022.46 He was also elected President of the World Editors Forum in June 2019.7
In October 2022, Fernandez left The Straits Times to join Edelman, a global public relations firm, as CEO for the Asia-Pacific region.357 Throughout his career, he has been involved in various boards and organizations, including the National Arts Council, National Heritage Board, and National Environment Agency.7
Highlights
This Business Times Brunch feature is a heartening read. It’s behind a paywall (sorry, can’t help you there, good journalism is worth paying for) but the gist is that more people are spending more time reading, sparked by new book and reading clubs springing up, often through social media. That’s great news in today’s time-starved, attention-deficit world. Best quote came from my former newsroom colleague Edmund Wee, who now runs Epigram Books, and is a great champion of local writers and books:”It does not matter why you read or what you read…you may eventually read something that changes your life.” Indeed, trust me, you will! Happy reading.
As our world gets more fraught and complex, audiences are increasingly choosing news sources which are more visual, reports are more watched, less read, with YouTube continuing its rise. The implications of this trend for deep understanding of difficult issues is worth pondering. More people are concerned about how to grapple with the rising torrent of fake news, and many having doubts about how AI might be deployed by newsrooms. Edelman has partnered with the Reuters Institute for this annual report as we are all in the business of communicating and good, credible and trusted information is critical to everyone in that process
