THE SunStar website at www.sunstar.com.ph turns 20 years old today, May 10, 2020.
This online source of information on Philippine communities is 20 @ 2020 and the commemoration of this milestone takes on the theme “Onward to a new normal.” The holding of a celebration is impossible, as part of the new normal, yet the anniversary allows stakeholders to pause and see the path forward.
It is the website and its related digital services such as social media accounts, newscasts and breaking news that are the primary, if not the only, source of information for many about the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
The emergency situation is making the SunStar website and its social media services vital links to the health and welfare of the people in Cebu and its other communities. Information on what will happen when restrictions are eased up, the requirements for businesses about to reopen and the number of deaths and recoveries of persons found to have the new coronavirus. All these bring the public closer to a new normal where physical distancing, wearing of masks and working from home become the standard.
Five years ago, when the network website turned 15, the call was to future-proof SunStar. That meant bringing the media company closer to the reality of a digital and connected community, regardless of physical boundaries or distance. To future-proof is to prepare the SunStar media brand for a future in the digital age.
The website connects communities of the Philippine archipelago, links them to decision-makers at the capital and brings their voice to the world. On the mobile phone, in an e-paper that brings the newspaper to your hand, on Facebook and other social media platforms, in multimedia, in a newscast on the website, in live interviews. All these points to a future-proofing where SunStar prepares for the shock of future events, but nothing close to what we are experiencing now. No one, not one media organization was prepared for the shock of the Covid-19.
In 2000, when the SunStar website moved from being Cebu-centered to one that covers its network of community newspapers, the internet penetration in the country was a mere two percent of the population. As of January 2020, the number of internet users was placed at 79 million or 72.1 percent of the population. On Facebook, there are 71.7 million Filipinos using this platform.
As the SunStar website soldiers on to the new normal brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, it looks back to its fundamentals as a network of community newspapers that have the wide-scope task of reporting information of great importance to everyday life, to the economy and to the country in general, covering areas of information not normally available in the Manila-based newspapers.
The adoption of new technology by these community newspapers marks a significant part of their transformation that continues under a new norm.
(ninicab@sunstar.com.ph)