An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
I have been watching big Bertha over the years and I think she finally hit the jackpot. Her first attempt at capturing the online market was under SPH in a project called "Eyeball" It cost couple of millions and I remember the Board was not pleased with it and it shut down. When she left SPH, she started the "Breakfast' news more a hobby than anything else until Yaacob dropped his laws and ask for $50k guarantee. That put paid to it.
The Middle Ground started off poorly, she even struggled which side of the fence to bat and the layout was poor. The latest layout is really good and a much better copy of Independent SG. The content is also much more. More importantly she had chosen to be more transparent with her writers something the others struggle. I felt that TOC was very popular in its early years when editors and writers revealed themselves. TISG is heading in the right direction with content and reach and the appointment of Ravi P. The Agora inclusion will cover the ground that Viswa had and feed the TISG well. I would like to see Edmund Wee an advisor to TISG on layout etc really try to match and do better. I note that WP has similar layout as TISG presumably with Leon guiding it.
Bertha' big challenge is to be objective. Her networks of contacts are still excellent especially in the porlumpar army. Hopefully her positive karma points outstrip her negative karma points of her past.
Six.Six was never going to go the distance as Kannan Chandran was never into politics or the social movements. He was more into the affluent market segment and his love for sports cars. And it showed. Viswa's approach was very much experimental and it was also very polished and full credit to him. But it required deep pockets. But I suspect it should be back when Viswa has more time as well as sponsors.
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