No Malay Mail from Apr 30 - May 14
UPDATED VERSION. Sunday Mail editor Aishah Ali wrote an epitaph of sorts in today's edition, bidding everybody 'good night and good luck':
Writing these stories is what I will miss when I leave Sunday Mail after four-and-a-half years as editor. Yes, dear readers, both the paper and I have come to the end of our journey. After today, Sunday Mail will cease to exist in its present form to make way for a brand new paper with a new staff line-up.
Time flies and media mission often gets warped in distorted perception that drifts with changing tides. How many people, for example, still remember who J.H.M. Robson was and what his media missions were?
How many people realised that The Malay Mail is the first daily newspaper published in the Federated Malay States while The (New) Straits Times originated from Singapore?
My late father-in-law, a forgotten personality in Malaysian press, helped put together a commemorative edition, titled: A Tribute to Journalism in Malaysia, that was presented to Musa Hitam, the then Deputy Prime Minister, in conjunction with the inaugural Malaysian Press Awards (1980) presentation at the KL Hilton on September 15, 1981. There was a citation about The Malay Mail in the booklet. A screenshot of Page 7: The History of the Press:
In an internal memo to the staff on Friday, NSTP CEO Syed Faisal Albar underscored the relevance of reinventing the 116-year-old newspaper, and 'propelling its publishing life to the next level', though he didn't specify it's upward or otherwise:
The Malay Mail started in 1896. It has grown with the nation and has evolved into a newspaper with an identity of its own. To further excel in its long and exciting journey, it is now at a defining moment for Malay Mail and Sunday Mail’s publishing lives that will propel it further to the next level.
Some of us have been involved in a special project to reinvent the current Malay Mail and Sunday Mail. Whilst the brandname of Malay Mail is still strong in the marketplace, however, we need to face the harsh realities of competition – within the newspaper industry and amongst other media platforms.
Starting from May, The Malay Mail will be a 5-day publication, while the Sunday Mail will be replaced by Weekend Mail, which will circulate as an end-week publication on Saturdays and Sundays. (If you remember well, theSun decided to vacate the weekend market and killed off its weekend edition in March this year.)
An yes, the new Malay Mail apparently misses its May 1 timeline and readers will have to brace for a 2-week hiatus of the tabloid.
ex-Malay Mail & 'future life'
Here's the timeline Syed Faisal laid out for what he called the 'reinvented Malay Mail':
- 23 April 2006 -- The final publication of the Sunday Mail
- 29 April 2006 -- The final publication of the Malay Mail
- 30 April 2006 to 14 May 2006 -- No publication
- 15 May 2006 -- The launch of the new Malay Mail
- 20 / 21 May 2006 -- The launch of the new Weekend Mail
With Faisal's reinvention, Kongster will end his 11-year-old column, and entertainment editor Zainal Alam Kadir (Watchamaxalit) will move on to greener pastures after spending 16 years of his life in Jalan Riong.
Read Faisal's memo (Download file) here.
UPDATES: Aisehman got the drift after downloading Faisal's PDF, and pointed to the NSTP CEO's dark humour:
To the current Malay Mail and Sunday Mail staff who will be leaving us as a result of the Voluntary Separation Scheme, we truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the contribution, passion and support.We wish you all the best in your future life
.
By 'future life', was Faisal referring to their dunia akhirat or just plain bad English?
Comments
A CEO of a "reinvented" ENGLISH paper using that kind of English, I can see the FUTURE LIFE of the "new" Mail is limited.
Posted by: cyleow![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
April 23, 2006 08:13 PM
They should call it quits a lone time ago. The papers are drifting away from the needs and aspirations of the readers.
They have taken the control of the paper and failed to understand "who" are the readers and their cultural background. Who are the majority english educated reading the MM & SM? Are they interested in them?
Have they ever taken any feedback or survey on what the readers would like to see and read?
The ONLY way they can reinvent them is by spicing up the papers and titillate the readers.
Posted by: multidimid![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
April 23, 2006 09:26 PM
In the 70s, 80s and 90s, the Malay Mail was the paper of choice for the Klang Valley. It had the latest news, the latest gossip, it was in an easy format to read and store. It also had the best classified ads for everything from cars to houses and jobs. Somehow, Jalan Riong managed to screw it up. It's classified ads are now dominated by massage opportunities and loan sharking offers. It doesn't have breaking news, and the editors are simply devoid of ideas, so much so that it came out at the same time as the mainstream papers. So sad to see the present state of affairs, but it is the editorial team and management that make a paper. Sadly, I don't see any improvement in what comes after May 2006.
Posted by: Godfather![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
April 23, 2006 10:54 PM
another space lost. another round of journalists gone. the paper that cares can't anymore. isn't it time for the people to care?
Posted by: Siew Eng![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
April 23, 2006 11:15 PM
The Paper That Cares is no more. It has been buried.
What was once the staple media diet to Klang Valley folk had been taken to the dogs to be ripped apart and pooped upon.
Man, or man, what a paper it was. What a bunch of journalists there were. Exclusives upon scoops, international ones at that.
The journalists were the who's who of Malaysian media. Some of them still are. But to me, it was the 80s and early 90s that thrust the Malay Mail and Sunday Mail to its best ever.
The investigations done by the MM were unparalled. Awards were continously bestowed on MM journalists, editors and the Paper itself.
Coupled with that the Classifieds were much sought after. Together, the editorial and advertising kept the MM a potent brand. The Sunday Mail was a popular weekend paper too.
Advertisers loved the MM and SM, while the authorities feared them. To the public, they became part of the family.
The names of the reporters then were household names. Indeed, they were celebrities in their own right.
One of the celebrity reporters was Fauzi Omar (now Datuk) who started off in MM Sports. This guy had a good following for his no-holds-barred outlook at sports issues.
Readers loved him, but little do people realise that it was during his tenureship as editor in the mid 90s that the paper began to disintegrate.
He, sadly, was no editor material. He was a major flop, and quit at a time when the paper hit an all time low.
To make matters worse, he was replaced by Rocky (Ahiruddin Attan), who killed the paper off.
In short, they left it in the hands of the wrong people and today we have all lost something so dear to us.
It is a sad day for the nation, that two leading brands in the newspaper industry have been put to rest.
For me, would like to say that Fauzi and Rocky should lead their ensemble to aplogise to the nation for their mismanagement of the paper.
They will never, I know. Farewell, Malay Mail. Farewell Sunday Mail.
Posted by: Spin_Doc![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
April 23, 2006 11:52 PM
err.. i thought its only for SUNDAY MAIL..if the paper is no more..so where i can get the news tht shows the real Malayasia?
Posted by: nhm![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
April 24, 2006 09:47 AM
Which next?
Only highly liberate culture allow papers to thrive; allow "minority" papers with deepness to surivive. This will allow the publishing field to employ more people thus help enable the basic requirement of "K-economy".
With 25 millions population, the total publishing in Malaysia is 50%-80% less than many First world country with 1/3 or 1/5 of population.
Posted by: moo_t![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
April 24, 2006 11:18 AM
the day when press freedom died...
Posted by: crookedmind![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
April 27, 2006 06:52 PM