| Alt Name: | News Tonight |
| Genre: | Flagship News |
| Starring: | Angela Lim Glenda Chong Otelli Edwards Steven Chia |
| Country: | Singapore |
| Language: | English |
| Location: | Mediacorp Campus 1 Stars Avenue Singapore 138507 |
| Camera: | Multi-camera |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes (21:00 until 21:30 SGT). |
| Company: | Mediacorp News |
| Network: | Channel 5 |
| Last Aired: | present |
| Related: |
News Tonight (formerly News 5 Tonight, News 5 and before 1994 as just News) is a Singapore English long-running main flagship daily television news bulletin programme on Mediacorp Channel 5 since its inception which runs daily from 21:00 until 21:30 SGT on dailt/public holidays, providing a round-up of all the day's events around Singapore, as well as coverage of breaking news and occasional global stories relevant to Singaporeans. The highly rated programme is currently presented mainly by Angela Lim, Glenda Chong, Otelli Edwards, and Steven Chia. Currently it is broadcast at 9pm every evening and has been the only news bulletin on Channel 5 since the start of Channel NewsAsia.
Channel 5 has been airing news bulletins since the period of pilot broadcasts conducted in February 1963. These consisted of a plain news bulletin read by a presenter and a series of Berita Singapura newsreels. The first newsreader on launch night was Steven Lee, while the first newsreel (Berita Singapura) was read by Harry Crabb, who later appeared in the regular bulletins. The news division was assisted by Australian entrepeneur David Prior, who trained locals in the field of television journalism. At the time, it was projected that Prior would stay with TV Singapura for two years.[1] The first bulletin in the pilot service was broadcast at 6:30pm on 15 February 1963 and was a five-minute English bulletin followed by a newsreel lasting a further five minutes, the latter having Chinese subtitles.[2] On 11 March 1963,[3] ahead of the formal launch on 2 April, the channel gained a four-hour schedule and the news moved to 9:15pm, lasting fifteen minutes, adding an equal-running Chinese bulletin at 8:15pm. The Berita Singapura newsreels were transmitted separately from the newsreel featured in the main bulletin.[4]
From 30 March 1973, the channel only carried news bulletins in English and Malay, with the English bulletin airing during primetime hours.[5] Selected newsreels were converted to colour on 11 November 1974, in the second phase of RTS's colour implementation plan for television. For black and white footage, said content aired appropriately.[6]
After RTS became SBC, all four language bulletins initially received a homogenous news intro displaying the name of the four language bulletins.[7]
SBC began adapting a new format for its television news broadcasts in August 1980.[8] The new format would feature two newscasters and more on-location reporting.
On 1 February 1983, the day of the third anniversary of SBC, its television news broadcasts received a new studio set, described as "duck-egg blue" and "three-dimensional". A special semi-circular table was created for the set. The previous set was "pink" in colour. The new set was inspired from news and current affairs programmes in the United States.[9] Other changes include each newscaster reading different stories and more graphics and illustrations. On 1 February 1984, following the launch of Channel 12, which enabled the releasing of more available time slots for the extant channels, the News bulletin expanded to the current length of thirty minutes. Moreover, SBC's news bulletins started carrying commercial breaks for the first time[10] - up until then, the only advertisements allowed were in the clock preceding the bulletin, from 1 June 1980.[11]
In August 1988, SBC news broadcasts adopted a new "upbeat and viewer-friendly" look, the backdrop being that of the skyline of Singapore. It generated positive response from viewers.[12] In December 1988, SBC announced that it would cease carrying Late News on SBC 5 and 12, due to limited news developments since the main 9pm bulletin.[13]
On 31 August 1992, SBC 5 introduced a two-minute 7 p.m. news bulletin, From The Newsroom, airing on weekdays. This did not affect the main 9 p.m. bulletin.[14] Facing competition from Singapore Cable Vision's in-house NewsVision channel providing news from five foreign sources, SBC announced that the channel would add a second news bulletin in English from January 1994. As of October 1993, the 9pm bulletin attracted 140,000 adult viewers.[15]
On 1 January 1994, Channel 5 revamped and became an all-English channel. There were now two main bulletins targeting different demographics: News 5 at Seven, aimed at blue-collar workers and featuring human interest stories; and News 5 Tonight, which resembled the former 9 p.m. news bulletin., airing at the later time of 10:30p.m.[16] Channel 5's new newsroom was built at a cost of S$8 million.[17] The 10:30 bulletin was also carried by the ephemerous international service Singapore International Television.[18]
TCS determined in October 1998 that, with the launch of Channel NewsAsia in the following year,[19] it was decided that all of Channel 5's current affairs programmes were to move to CNA, leaving only the main news (News 5 Tonight) with only one edition at 9:30pm.[20] Since 1 March 1999, it has been the only daily news bulletin airing on the channel.
On 30 April 2001, News 5 Tonight was retooled with a new format, geared towards "young people and people on the streets" with stories relatable to the local audience and irrelevant news removed. This also included a live studio interview session each night. Toh Seh Ling, who was a presenter for "teen" news programme Newswatch in 1990, became its new host.[21]
With the announcement of Channel 5's Local Upsize on 1 November 2014, Channel 5 would move News 5 Tonight to 9pm effective 31 December 2014.[22] In October 2020, the newscast was simply renamed News Tonight.
News Tonight is one of only two main English national newscasts available in Singapore; the other being CNA's Singapore Tonight.
From 1 May 1980, "weather girls" were added to the English bulletins, and were shown after the main news. In addition to data for Singapore, which had been carried since the start, an international section with data for foreign cities (Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul) was added, as well as wind conditions in the South China Sea. This was already done on SBC's radio stations.[23] [24] These bulletins were pre-recorded at 8pm.[23]
A new batch of part-time presenters was announced in 1981, being paid S$25 per report.[25] The practice of having a separate weather report ended in March 1982 because the "weather report within the news bulletin was adequate".[26] On 26 March 1984, the weather at the end of the news was limited exclusively to data for Singapore, with foreign data still being available on SBCText and radio stations.[27]
Currently, the bulletin has weather updates before commercial breaks.