The Malay Mail ceases publication temporarily

The 115-year-old newspaper will make a comeback in January and intends to make amends for 'letting our readers down'.

PETALING JAYA: The Malay Mail today announced it was ceasing publication temporarily – and promised its readers and advertisers that it would be back in early January with a new look, new content and renewed energy.

The paper carried an unprecedented advertisement on the front page of today’s edition. Running on the theme of “Survival”, the advertisement highlighted the historical events that the paper has witnessed since its inception in 1896 – including “Two World Wars, Japanese Occupation, Communist Insurgency and multiple editorial crises”.

The advert also carries a bold line that not many newspapers will readily acknowledge of themselves: “And worst of all we have let our readers down.”

The message, however, ends in a decidedly upbeat tone by saying ,“But we survived it all. Come January 2012, we shall return with a new look, new content and a brand new energy”.

In explaining the concept of “Survival” in the advertisement, The Malay Mail’s chief executive officer, Phillip Karuppiah, said: “When we announced we were changing the business model of the paper to a paid morning daily, we informed our readers and advertisers that we would position the Malay Mail as a content provider that reports the news truthfully and factually without any fear or favour.

“We believe therefore that we owe it to our readers to tell the truth about ourselves too. Yes, we have let our readers down in the past and we intend to acknowledge it and make amends for it,” he said.

“However, we also take great pride in the fact that The Malay Mail is one of the oldest newspapers in the country and is a national institution in the media industry. We have been through a lot over the years and survived. Ours is a story of resilience and we have that in our DNA.

“We intend to come back stronger than ever in January 2012 and we trust that our readers, advertisers and business partners will be very pleased with the final product,” Phillip added.

Nay-sayers

The Malay Mail’s edition today is the last as a free afternoon daily. The paper will return in January as a paid morning newspaper.

In an editorial in today’s edition of the paper, The Malay Mail says: “When we announced about two months ago that The Malay Mail was going to go through another transformation, we were not want of critics and nay-sayers.

“But they cannot be blamed for their doubts, as this newspaper had undergone more than its fair share of rapid changes over the years. However, on the flip side of the coin, the reaction from both readers and advertisers is enthusiastic, with high expectations for another chapter in the history of this 115-year-old institution.

The paper also announced that readers would have to pay a cover price of RM1 for the new Malay Mail in January.

“We feel this is a small token our readers would not mind contributing as it will go a little way to help this paper deliver all the news that matters to a larger audience,” said Terence Fernandez, the executive editor.

“This includes more comprehensive coverage of national, foreign, business, lifestyle, entertainment and sports news and wider coverage of community news as well as the award-winning Hotline that has become synonymous with The Malay Mail.

“More importantly, loyal readers of The Malay Mail can continue to expect the kind of investigative reports and exposé that the newspaper had built its credibility on,” he said.

Readership profile

“Here we hope to broaden our approach from being The Paper That Cares to a paper that caters to a more demanding and sophisticated readership by providing in-depth reports and alternative views that challenge current norms. In other words, we’re rethinking the news”.

“This is crucial in our current landscape of a more cynical public who seldom take anything at face value,” Terence added.

The paper also said that the transformation in editorial content and direction as well as a transition from a free to paid model will help better determine its readership profile and consequentially, offer advertisers a focused market audience.

As it goes off print for the next few weeks as work progresses on getting the new product off the ground, the paper will continue to maintain a web presence. A new website will be launched simultaneously with the launch of the new paid daily in January.

In the interim, readers can continue to get up to date news of the day from The Malay Mail website www.mmail.com.my.