Stomp Rebrand and TNP Merger: Gossip with a Dash of News
RIP TNP, Stomped but not forgotten đź‘Ł
The New Paper is no more. Not as a standalone site anyway.
In October 2025, SPH Media integrated TNP into Stomp, revamping Stomp’s website and identity to reflect the change. Although the announcement was branded as a merger, close to half a year later, it is clear that the TNP brand is gradually being phased out.
“With TNP launched in 1988 and Stomp introduced in 2006, it is timely for us to reshape them to better resonate with our younger audience and reach out to newer readers. The new Stomp embodies two proud legacies in a refreshed format to resonate with a new generation, without losing our loyal audiences. We are building on combined strengths to create something stronger, yet familiar.”
-Joy Fang, Stomp Editor
How did we get here?
TNP was seen as the sensationalist counterpart to The Straits Times, Singapore’s newspaper of record. Specialising in human interest stories and sports news, it also organised high profile events such as the New Paper Big Walk and The New Paper New Face pageant.
Then social media disrupted the news industry. Disruption is an understatement—many newspaper brands have come and gone just within the last decade. This includes Mediacorp’s tabloid Today, which was seen as The New Paper’s main competitor. It shared a similar fate as TNP, by first going fully digital, then being absorbed into CNA, where it is now known as a section called CNA Today.
After becoming a digital-only paper, TNP readership fell dramatically from its peak as the second most circulated English paper after ST. When I reviewed its brand identity last year, it was clear that the media outlet was on its last legs, having lost its sports focus and publishing ST articles on their site to supplement news coverage.
Stomp, on the other hand, thrived as more people got smartphones with cameras. As the OG kaypoh media outlet, it was often the quickest to publish everything from antisocial behavior incidents to celebrity gossip from tips sent in by “citizen journalists”. Eventually, viewership grew larger than TNP’s readership, and Stomp became ubiquitous warning to follow the law such that the word is used as an adjective (e.g. better throw your rubbish in the bin if not later kena Stomp-ed).
While there are synergies between Stomp and TNP, Stomp had never published hard news stories before. Since the merger, Stomp has begun publishing ST articles under the TNP news section, which is jarring to see. If there are more ST articles being published than TNP ones, should the section just be called Stomp News instead of TNP News?
Medicure: Stomp’s New Look
Stomp’s previous look used ST’s serif font and referenced its letter placement which felt too formal for a gossip outlet. The new wordmark uses thick sans-serif font and shifts the iconic footprint to the “o”, giving it a youthful and contemporary look.
Section badges for “Singapore Seen”, “Stomp Gets Things Done” have also been revised under this new identity. TNP’s checkmark has returned after a brief hiatus, and now resides on the TNP news section badge. These badges are a simple but effective tool to boost Stomp’s brand and remind viewers of their continent offerings.
TNP lost its edge when it pivoted away from its sports and entertainment focus. Independent media and mainstream news outlets now fill the gap left by TNP, albeit with fewer resources and less intensity. Had TNP doubled down on its niche reporting during the rise of social media, it could have very well grown into a regional news leader in sports, thanks to its three decade-long experience in in-depth sports reporting. Instead, its fate is now tied to a gossip outlet which beefs randomly with yong fau foo hawkers.
Stomp has a place in the media ecosystem, but it would take more than just random news articles from ST to live up to its refreshed tagline: “Real. Vocal. Impactful.” Positive impact, presumably.
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