Their reason is simple.
If you give free content, then who will pay the journalists to chase those great stories?
Who will pay for his computer, office space, newsprint, etc. Who will pay for the editors' salaries, etc.
That is one reason sooooo many newspapers and magazines in the West world have closed down or shrunk drastically.
Either way they lose: If they don't give free content on the Net, people don't visit their websites. But if they do, then they lose money because salaries have to be paid to the journalists.
So most papers, like The Straits Times in Singapore, gave a mix of free content and those that you have to pay for.
Today, there are websites dedicated to overseeing the death of suratkhabar lama.
Kesian kami.
Like this one: newspaperdeathwatch.com .
Last year was the worst for the newspaper industry around the world, with 142 papers in the US alone closing shop.
Coupled with the global economic crisis, you have a lot of jobless newspapermen and women who are desperate for jobs.
My company Singapore Press Holdings, potong our gaji between 4 to 8 per cent last April. Only this month restored HALF of the pay-cut. Whew. Lucky it didn't retrench people!
In the world of journalism, only one newspaper, really, make money by SELLING its content - the US's big daddy Wall Street Journal.
Because of its reputation for scoops and insightful journalism, people in the US and around the world are willing to PAY to read it daily. Yes there is free content also, but the juiciest stories are not free.
In Singapore, there is The Straits Times - ahem, I daresay one of the biggest newspapers in Asia, outside of Japan, in terms of readership, profits and number of journalists on board (between 200-300 just for ST).
You could argue this is because of its near-monopoly status, though then again if the contents are lousy people won't buy it and advertisers would run away.
ST - we call it ST lah in Singapore like they call that famous paper NST in Malaysia - decided some years ago to only make limited content available on the Internet.
Otherwise, Singapore most readers in Temasek would just read the stories free of charge rather than buying the physical newspaper.
So because you are not paying clients of ST online, you might have missed these stories - dah panjang cerita baru masuk bab Daim dan MiG-29!
Tak apa I kasi free sebab cerita menarik tentang Malaysia.
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1) In the year-ender pages, people around the world to watch.
The third coming of Daim
Daim Zainuddin
Malaysia’s former finance minister
CORPORATE Malaysia is starting to stir with increased talk of takeovers and mergers.
And when this sort of corporate fever grips the nation, one of the key movers and shakers, Tun Daim Zainuddin, 71, is usually in the thick of things.
As Malaysia grapples with its largest budget deficit in decades, the government is under pressure to raise more revenue to make up some of the huge shortfall.
Mr Daim and his group of high-flying business associates, who have been busy exploring business deals overseas in fairly recent times, are now eyeing opportunities at home.
The man himself is staying tight-lipped, but close associates say the former two-time finance minister has been spending more time in Malaysia and has developed close ties with Prime Minister Najib Razak.
They say that key lieutenants of Mr Daim are quietly lobbying the Najib administration in an attempt to take over the operations of large government-controlled assets, including the nationwide toll-road network and several power-generation installations.
Mr Daim, dubbed “Muscles” by close associates as because he punches well above his weight in politics and business, served as finance minister from 1984 to 1991, and again from 1999 to 2001.
As the chief trouble-shooter of former political strongman Mahathir Mohamad, Mr Daim also served as purse-keeper held the purse of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and was widely considered to be the brains behind its business empire.
But the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 put a strain on the relationship and he left the government under a cloud after a falling out with Dr Mahathir over differences on the management of Umno’s business assets that were eventually taken over by the state.
The third coming of Mr Daim is going to be more about business rather than politics, though his knowledge of the ways of politics is bound to help.
By LESLIE LOPEZ
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2) Translated from Utusan, by Azmi Hassan, "a geostrategist at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
The article was originally published on the website of Utusan Malaysia on Dec 30."
Original article posted here.
He was writing about the plan to replace Malaysia's MiG 29 jet fighters with news ones, a plan attacked by Dr M already in his blog.
Mr Azmi wrote:
- "Secara puratanya kerajaan terpaksa membelanjakan sehingga RM260 juta setahun hanya untuk senggara 16 MiG-29N iaitu satu nisbah kos senggara per pesawat antara paling tinggi di dunia."
- In English: On average, the government spent up to RM260 million a year for the upkeep of the 16 jets - among the highest maintenance cost per aircraft in the world.
Why is it sooooooo expensive to maintain the MiG to the point that it becomes among the highest in the world.
I am not saying there is hanky-panky at all, because I have zero facts.
But if the writer is correct, someone should go dig up this issue.
Because there are many other air forces in the world that use the MiG, but why is it that the hot weather in Malaysia affects these machines more?
Or maybe because there is too much rain?
Indeed, there could be very legitimate reasons for this high maintenance cost. The government could then go back to Dr M and other critics to explain why the MiG-29 have to be sold away.
Alang, kau tunggu apa lagi?
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