The Malay Mail will soon ditch its afternoon newspaper model and revert to being a paid newspaper model.

In a statement today, its editor-in-chief Yushaimi Yahaya said that the move was necessary because new technology had made afternoon newspapers less relevant.

“Consumers today get late breaking news through alerts on their phones, iPads and the Internet,” he said.

On the other hand, Yushaimi explained that a morning newspaper would allow the The Malay Mail to provide in-depth reports on the news day.

“If we continued as an afternoon paper, we would be put at a disadvantage as we would not be able to report the day’s events the following day, as it would be stale news after one reads the morning papers.”

Yushaimi promised that the new morning newspaper will be positioned as a content provider that reports without fear or favour.

“We will report on a wide spectrum of issues that affect Malaysians of all communities.  We will give voice to our readers and invite opinions and commentaries that highlight a diverse range of viewpoints on a particular debate.

“We will focus on in-depth investigative reports on issues that impact our readers and Malaysians in general.  Our content will set us apart from the competition. We believe there is a demand for such content and we are well positioned to fill that void,” he said.

He said that the transition would take place in a few weeks and the current print would be reduced as an interim measure.

The Malay Mail is one of the oldest newspapers in the country. It was once part of NSTP Publishing group and is now owned by Redberry Sdn Bhd, which also runs Bernama TV and The Malaysian Reserve .