New Straits Times political editor Abdul Rashid Yusof has been appointed deputy group editor of the beleaguered paper, with the group editorship left vacant in the wake of the retirement of Syed Nadzri Syed Harun.
Rashid will report to Jalil Hamid, the group managing editor, who now also assumes the duties of group editor.
Rashid now Jalil’s right-hand man [PETS18]
Kamrul Idris had been in cold storage for the past three years, handling the leader page, after the Najib government appointed Ahmad A Talib as group editor-in-chief and executive director, followed by the appointment last year of Jalil as group managing editor.
Kamrul has now been appointed “editor-at-large for foreign policy affairs”, according to an announcement by the paper’s publishers, Media Prima.
Syed Nadzri said his farewell to staff on Tuesday, opting to take retirement instead of extending his contract.
Nuraina Samad is the daughter of journalism legend the late A Samad Ismail, who had held the position of managing editor before he was arrested under the Internal Security Act in 1975, in an Umno power struggle in the Hussein Onn government. He was detained for four years.
Pak Samad died in September 2008.
Nuraina’s duties now seem to be confined to supervision of news and features, with the creation of a new position of managing editor (business), filled by Mustapha Kamil Mohd Janor, promoted from executive editor (business editor).
The business section is to be revamped, the announcement said.
Seelan Paul, chief executive of Media Prima television, now has an additional job as chief strategy officer.
The announcement quotes Johan Jaaffar, chairman of Media Prima, as saying that the new appointments are to strengthen the group as a whole, to “reflect the vibrancy of society we are in and the changing dynamics in its people”
He said there was “a need to make changes and adjustments to improve ourselves and stay ahead of our competitors. To stay the best, we must better ourselves at all times.”
The New Straits Times has suffered severe falls in circulation sales in the past decade. The last available audited figures show net sales of about 60,000 and bulk sales bringing up the total to just below 100,000.
uppercaise 
Johan Jaaffar says the new appointments are to strengthen the group as a whole, to “reflect the vibrancy of society we are in and the changing dynamics in its people”. I applaud Johan for this Goebbelsque show of bravado as his paper continues to slide inexorably into a calatimitous abyss. If he thinks he can resurrect a comatose patient (neither dead or alive), good luck to him. After all, he is speaking from another planet. Happy dreaming, Tan Sri Johan.
Why is Rashid Yusof showing his fist in the picture?
For the facetious answer, see above. For the factual boring answer: he was making a gesture while conducting a training session.
Rashid is showing his fist because he wants to prove he is DA MAN
Danke schon, Mr NSTman.
Both choices, Rashid and Nuraina, were basically scraping the bottom of the barrel.
And in the process, like in septic tanks, the big chunks always rise to the top.
poor nuraina – after all the work she did supporting the cause….
rather short article, was hoping to know more about what transpired in the nst reshuffle
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