Sometimes I am a bit slow off the mark…just a moment ago I learned that The Nation is reportedly in dire condition. Late last week 2Bangkok ran a short piece announcing that the paper is for sale, and that there are rumours of massive staff cuts and other re-structuring.
In response, Fonzi (of Thailand Jumped the Shark fame) has aired his views:
Well, what can I say. There is a certain feeling of satisfaction when your year and half of blogging is vindicated by the marketplace.
I don’t feel happy that people will lose their jobs, especially those who are in no power to make editorial decisions. The publishers have had a long time to get their act together. They refused. Now some have to pay the piper.
Many New Mandala readers will already know that Fonzi has devoted a huge amount of effort to a one-man campaign against The Nation and, in particular, some of its senior writers and editors. By “deconstructing” their articles, the Fonz has made a name as a critical and combative member of the Thai blog scene. In recent weeks The Bangkok Bugle has also been blogging on the financial (and other) problems in the wider Nation Group. But this is a story that as far as I have seen still hasn’t been picked up in the English or Thai-language media.
So, will Na-chua get through its reported troubles? And if it doesn’t…dare I ask…would NotTheNation take its place? Surely Thailand could do with a satirical periodical in the months and years ahead. Would there be a market for it (ala The Chaser)?
2 responses so far ↓
1 Matty // Aug 1, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I posted the following at TJTS commenting further on Fonzi’s apparent glee at Nation Multimedia Group deepening financial morass:
“Fonzi apparently you could not add nor deduct properly. I looked into the same NMG financial statements you referred to, and, the arithmetic for NMG’s 2007 balance sheet comes out:
Total Assets – Baht 4,148 million
Total Liabilities – Baht 3,338 million
Thus Assets less Liablities gives us NMG Equity of Baht 810 million.
I am no accountant Fonzi but I can still add, and deduct, better than you!
But I agree w/ you Fonzi that NMG’s Balance Sheet situation is dire, desperate for sure. NMG’s equity had consistently been shrinking annually, from Baht 2,158 million in Y2004 to Baht 810 million by close of Y2007 – that’s a whopping LOSS to the shareholders of Baht 1.4 billion over a 3-year period! Jeez . . . NMG’s finances must be a nightmare!
I can only guess that Y-2008 for NMG must have been financially horrendous – - probaly zero equity, or as Fonzi suspects, capital deficiency.
So if readers can begin to detect some tremor of despair (panic even ha ha ha!) from Nation’s daily editorials . . . we can pin it on dire finances! Those Nation editors and reporters wages may already have been many months overdue . . .????
2 jonfernquest // Aug 1, 2008 at 11:52 pm
“The Nation is reportedly in dire condition. ”
This raises an interesting question. How can newspapers like The Nation survive in times like these? I would say:
1. Outsource more to experts in academia whose job it is to know what is really going on, not professional pundits and skip the press release style journalism you usually find in business section…
2. Provide rich background information, can you read the paper for a year and really understand the economy and business in Thailand? If not they forget it.
3. Make it all interactive , user generated content, like New Mandala, just like the NY Times says on the gateway to their op-ed section, “All the news that’s fit to debate.”
4. 70%-80% of the content should be business and economic news for Thailand and Southeast Asia. Google News gives me the rest of the world. The value of a cut and paste job onto paper is minimal nowadays.
5. Keep it a lean, virtual news organization, outsource everything.
Far Eastern Economic Review failed but IMHO an intelligent informed, intellectual organisation, that provides real value and makes some money can be built, if you start from the ground up.
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