Vell Paari explains why plug is pulled on Tamil Nesan

The decision to call time on Tamil Nesan was not one taken lightly, its managing director S Vell Paari said.

“The paper was first published on Sept 24, 1924, and it has a rich history. But over the past 10 years or so, the shareholders have been subsiding its running cost,” he said in confirming that Tamil Nesan, one of the oldest newspapers in Southeast Asia, will cease operations on Feb 1.

“Year after year, we faced increasing printing costs and like all print media, we suffered a decrease in circulation due to the growth of the online media. Also, advertisement revenue has been on the decline for all print media.”

Competing for a small advertising budget with other Tamil media like Malaysia Nanban, Makkal Osai and Tamil Malar also posed a challenge.

“Because Tamil Nesan was the only Tamil daily that was part of the National Union of Newspaper Workers (NUNW), our average cost was a lot higher compared to other Tamil dailies in the country,” Vell Paari (photo) said.

Ironically, the paper enjoyed a boost in readership after GE14, but this only compounded its problems as it had to print more copies, while advertising revenue continued to sink.

“About seven months ago, the price of newsprint went up and it was costing us an additional RM90,000 to RM100,000 per month. We had expected a decrease in circulation due to Tamil Nesan being branded a Barisan Nasional-friendly paper.

“However, while our circulation did increase and there were earnings from advertisements, we still lost money on circulation,” Vell Paari said.

Coupled with a sharp drop in corporate advertising and other increasing expenditure, this meant that the cost of subsidising the paper skyrocketed, forcing its owners to take the drastic step of pulling the plug.

“Overall, the cost of subsiding shot up by at least an additional RM150,000 a month, hence we cannot sustain and had to make this difficult decision,” he said.

It has been claimed that 45 workers have already been issued termination letters, but Vell Paari said that the paper was not leaving its former employees in the lurch.

“We decided that we will still pay the staff salaries for February and March, even though there will be no publication. It may take a while to work out the staff costs as we have permanent, contract and temporary staff,” he said.

“We always tried to be fair,” Vell Paari said of the editorial policy of Tamil Nesan.

“One thing about Tamil Nesan that I have always told the editorial staff is that while we are Barisan-friendly, we must never block news from the other side.”

The closure of Tamil Nesan follows hot on the heels of the cessation of publication of the Malay Mail last December, after 122 years, and is indicative of the rapid decline of the print media in the country. - Mkini