Circulation of S'wak local dailies slowly increasing

KUCHING: The decision by Kuala-Lumpur based English dailies to cease having their physical copies circulated in Sarawak last year, has allowed local newspapers such as the New Sarawak Tribune, to fill the vacuum thus increasing sales volume.
According to New Sarawak Tribune general manager, Lim Hong Ming, as Sarawak's oldest newspaper which survived the Second World War, the newspaper had gone through all forms of challenges, to remain operational until today.
In acknowledging that current circulation was far different from what it was about five years ago, Lim said since dailies such as the New Straits Times and the Star ceased to circulate in Sarawak, circulation of the New Sarawak Tribune had increased by about 10%.
He said as with other newspapers which had seen better times in the hey days of the print media industry, the newspaper was also struggling hard to stay relevant in Sarawak.
Lim who was contacted by Bernama said, in Sarawak there were still followers who must physically read the newspapers page by page, as they find reading news from the screen uncomfortable.
In addition he said demand for newspapers was always there, following requests for copies from the increasing number of hotels and restaurants in the city.
In his interview with Bernama last year, Lim admitted that the newspaper was struggling with plunging circulation following technological progress and use of information technology as well as online media, but he was confident that with a revamp of its editorial content, business would improve.
Currently Lim said the newspaper has shifted its scope of coverage by not focusing on just political news but a blend of local news, light entertainment, human interest stories and so forth.
He said as for tourists, they were more interested to know on events or what were happening in the local areas and interesting places to visit while in Sarawak.
He said the newspaper had also included passages from books relevant to Sarawak's development, such as Bruno Manser and The Inside Story, which were excerpts of writings by Sarawak veteran journalist, James Ritchie, on a weekly basis.
He added that the younger generation should be informed of the important events which Sarawak had gone through and the bitter trials and tribulations endured before achieving peace and prosperity.— Bernama