The brother and sister team of Leslie Lau and Joan Lau will lead the team of 30 who will leave TMI for Trinity Diligence Sdn Bhd, which has been contracted to manage www.themalaymailonline.com
Interestingly, The Malay Mail newspaper has a content sharing agreement with another news portal MalaysiaKini.
"The print team and online team (of The Malay Mail) will be managed separately and the Insider team coming over will have no impact on the print partnership with MalaysiaKini," said a source familiar with what was happening.
Sources say the move, first reported by www.fz.com on April 23, was triggered by increasing differences between the TMI editorial team and its financiers on its editorial direction, especially during the run up to the May 5 General Election.
This, combined with very persistent wooing by the people behind The Malay Mail group, finally led to the collective decision to leave.
TMI was started in December 2007 by a group of businessmen and journalists close to then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as a counter balance against MalaysiaKini, which was deemed to be unfriendly to the Barisan Nasional (BN).
But after Abdullah stepped down in 2009, the group stopped the financing and the TMI top management, after talking to several people, eventually got funding with help from a 30-something Penang-born businessman with close ties to the current BN leadership.
The Malay Mail newspaper is privately controlled by Datuk Siew Ka Wei who, through his listed company Ancom Bhd, owns the Redberry Group which has in-store and outdoor advertising platforms.
Chan Thye Seng, the CEO and Managing Director of general insurer Pacific & Orient Bhd, which has an 18% stake in Ancom, is believed to have been the person who negotiated with the TMI team to cross over.
The deal was sealed after months of discussions and only after it was agreed that instead of being employees of The Malay Mail, the TMI team will form a new company to run the website. The Laus will be the main shareholders of Trinity.
When contacted, Chan said: "I have no comments to give you."
Since buying The Malay Mail four-years-ago, Siew has changed its management team and business model a few times, including from being a free to a paid newspaper. Among those who now work for him are media industry veterans Lee Yew Meng, one time head of advertising sales at The Star, and Rajjish Verron, who was formerly with MBf Cards.
Sources say Siew has also just signed on the Executive Editor of The Star, Datuk Wong Sai Wan, to be Director of Special Projects for The Redberry Group. Several months back, another senior newsman, Datuk Syed Nadzri Syed Harun joined from The News Straits Times Press.
"He has some heavyweights batting for him. But he has to get them to bat in sync instead of taking swings in different directions," says one media observer.
Industry analysts say the media landscape is heading for interesting times with re-alignments and businessmen sinking more money into it, despite the stiff competition and challenges facing the industry.
A new player, HCK Media Sdn Bhd owned by former Star Publications Executive Deputy Chairman Tan Sri Clement Hii, is expected to start a news portal call www.theantdaily.com very soon as well as a weekly lifestyle magazine.
- The Edge Malaysia
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