Malay Mail to cease print operations on Dec 1

PETALING JAYA: The Malay Mail, the oldest newspaper in Malaysia, will cease its print operations on Dec 1, and going fully digital on Dec 2.

This was announced on the paper’s portal yesterday evening, following a town hall meeting for the paper’s staff.

The Malay Mail began publishing on Dec 14 in 1896.

Staff affected by the Malay Mail’s digital pivot this December, have been given one week to decide whether they want to leave, or stay and retrain for new roles in the revamped organisation.

The move to digital for Malaysia’s oldest English daily will affect up to one-third, or 55, of the Malay Mail’s 165 staff.

This was confirmed by editor-in-chief Datuk Wong Sai Wan when contacted by The Star.

He explained that the shift to digital was not just solely about publishing news content anymore.

“News content is not commercial, this is the whole gambit of digital and multimedia.

“Of course I’m very sad, I started life as a print newspaper man, when we celebrate the 122nd birthday, that’s the last print issue, but it’s also a new adventure, and we’ll see where it goes,” said Wong.

The tabloid-format Malay Mail was part of NSTP Bhd’s newspaper stable.

However, in the 2000s, the paper suffered when the decision was made to have then sister-publication New Straits Times tabloid from broadsheet, eating Malay Mail’s market.

Since 2012, the paper has been under the ownership of Redberry Media Group, publishing news on both its online portal and print.

This pivot to digital also follows other upheavals in the local newspaper industry, where organisations such as media group Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd, which has moved to offer a voluntary separation scheme for its employees.

Utusan, classed as a PN17 company in August, is expected to offer 800 of its 1,500 employers VSS as part of its restructuring exercise, covering its four newspapers as well as four magazines.