After 50 years, PIONEER, a magazine published by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), just released its final print copy this month.
Starting from next month, the magazine will go fully online.
This news was made public in their August edition’s print version, which said “Our Final Print Issue – See you online!”.
The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) also took to its Facebook to announce this news. It said that since August 1969, the magazine has followed all of SAF’s important events, from marching with recruits in The Singapore Army to sailing with Republic of Singapore Navy and taking to the skies with The Republic of Singapore Air Force.
“As the SAF marches on, so must PIONEER progress. This August marks PIONEER’s 50th anniversary and its final print edition. Continue to catch the latest on the SAF at mindef.sg/pioneer!” it wrote in the post.
Published monthly, the magazine includes articles that will keep servicemen and women informed of all the happenings and developments in the SAF. Besides that, it also has lifestyle articles like food, travel, health, fitness and entertainment.
The magazine was first published in 1969 and was named the National PIONEER, a tabloid newsletter. When it first started, it was heavy on editorial and light on its black-and-white pictures. It also had a more serious tone and a formal writing style.
Over the years, that style changed and gave way to a glossy magazine, lifestyle tone with an increase on pictures and graphics.
When it started in the 1970s, the subscription fee was only 20 cents a copy. Today, the price stands at S$14.40 for a three year subscription.
Apart from PIONEER, there are a lot of other publications that ceased their print versions in an attempt to expand and focus on digital solutions which includes video, content marketing, website and app development. For instance, SG Magazine went completely digital in 2016.
If that’s not all, in 2017, TODAY also became an all-digital product following a wide-ranging deal between Mediacorp and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).
“Recognising that readers increasingly want their news on the go and encouraged by the growth in engagement, Mediacorp is taking the next step, turning the weekday editions fully digital too,” Mediacorp said.
So for all PIONEER subscribers, do know that you will have to tune to the magazine’s online platform to read all their happenings from next month onwards.
