Revamping the Malay Mail and MSM: A waste of time unless the press is freed

Many critics attribute the grave misfortune that has befallen the New Straits Times Group of Publications in the marketplace, in the last two decades, to its pro-government, pro-Umno, editorial stance since independence for Malaya in 1957.
Underlining such uncharitable takes would be the announcement on Tues 15, Nov 2011 that the century-old Malay Mail, ex-Nst stable, finally breathed its last on that day. It appears to have been all of a sudden although many will pooh pooh all this. They will remind us gleefully that the writing has been on the wall for quite some time now. Anyway, the universal reaction to MM’s shutdown has been “good riddance to bad rubbish!”
Not so soon.

Slow and sure death
The Pandits at MM tells us that the newspaper, more recently a free read used to double up as toilet rolls or to clean animal poo, would be back soon in another incarnation on Jan 3 next year.
Still, this can’t be that good for the MM which has been through it all viz. British colonialism, two World Wars, the communist-inspired Emergency Years, May 13, the Great Depression of 1930, booms-and-busts, Korea, Vietnam, the Hindraf Makkal Sakthi street protests in late 2007, the political tsunami of 2008 and a myriad other great events.
It would be wrong, on balance, to subscribe to the popular notion that the pro-establishment editorial stance of the mainstream media is the only or main reason behind its slow and sure death.
This appears to be so, on the surface, but it isn’t necessarily true.
It's OK to be pro-opposition or pro-govt as long as both are easily available
In the white Anglo Saxon Protestant (wasp) nations for example, it’s acceptable for even national dailies to shed the fig leaf of independence and studied neutrality, and to shamelessly root for this or that party across the political divide. Hence, we have government dailies and opposition dailies rather than pro-government or pro-opposition dailies. They do a booming trade in feeding the enormous appetite of the readers who swear by their own favourite political parties till thy kingdom come.
If this happy state of editorial affairs isn’t happening in Malaysia, there must be reasons for the cool market reaction. An exception may be made in the case of DAP and PAS. Their politics are like a breath of fresh air to newspaper sales and as witnessed in the market performance of The Rocket and Harakah, their respective party organs.
For starters, it would not be out of place to suggest that whatever the ruling Umno, and its poodle Barisan Nasional, is flogging in the local political theatre has become increasingly dated and unpopular over the years. Hence, the less than warm regard in which the mainstream media is held.
The more that the Nst and the Utusan Malaysia stable of publications root for Umno, the more unpopular they become with the voter readers and the steeper that the news-stand sales and subscriptions fall in the market. Therein lies the true barometer to gauge the popularity, or otherwise, of Umno’s policies.
Declining sales and online portals
Alternatively, it could be argued that BN supporters generally don’t read anything in the English language. If that’s the case, what accounts for the rapidly declining sales of Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia, both Umno-owned?
The mainstream media is not the only sector to bite the dust in recent days.
Some in the online media has fallen on hard times too.
malaysiakini, once a runaway success and a model of envy, is a case in point which has been heading south quite some time in the number of hits. The reason, not surprisingly as in the case of MM and Nst, is the online news portal’s pro-Mahathir Mohamad, pro-Perkasa and pro-Bernama editorial stance. Mahathir is not above interfering in how online news portals cover news and who gets to work there.
 Riff-raff
Politics is not the only reason for the deep malaise afflicting the mainstream media and alternative media like malaysiakini, among others.
Most of these outfits are manned by riff-raff, the top quality professional editorial staff having been driven away over the years. Political pressure is one reason. Place the blame too squarely on organisational politics and opposition to the political stand being taken by their respective outfits. The riff-raff, in turn, have no clue on what the media is all about and have been found wanting in coverage of non-political news as well.
If the political coverage in the mainstream media and malaysiakini is anathema to many voters, there’s no excuse for denying readers good coverage in business, sports, entertainment, court, crime and other critical reporting areas. Here, there’s a dearth of good editorial staff as the best are confined to the political reporting desk.
Keeping editorial staff who are past their shelf-life, especially those who have been instrumental in driving the mainstream media and malaysiakini to the ground, is another reason for the lack-lustre performance. The main indices of performance in the market are in terms of circulation/hits, advertising and other revenue streams.
Few tears?
Last, but not least, is the rapidly change profile of the newspaper vendor system introduced by the British. The colonialists knew what they were doing and sourced vendors from Tamil Nadu, India, during their time. The children of these vendors, often vendors themselves, are being pushed out from the trade by others recruited directly by the mainstream media and pitted against them (the traditional vendors).
This has had a crippling effect on news-stand sales and home deliveries and partly because readers are in sympathy with the traditional vendors. Patently, prejudice and overt and covert acts of racism are driving the irrationality of the mainstream media going against the traditional vendors.
If there’s no place in the mainstream media for the traditional vendors, at least their business methods and modus operandi are worth adopting but this is not being done so. The traditional vendors do not hesitate to give as much as six months credit to their customers even as they pay the mainstream media cash on delivery (COD) for supplies.
Very few will shed tears for the Malay Mail and indeed there was even a collective sigh of relief on the announcement of its closure, temporary or otherwise. None will bat even an eyelid when the New Straits Times, its evil twin, finally bites the dust as well.
The fact that the Nst is still around and that MM will reportedly make a re-appearance can only be put down to the fact that their owners need them as tax-write offs as long as the Inland Revenue Department would allow it.

Malaysia Chronicle