AFTER 13 years, The Edge Financial Daily has ceased its print edition Tuesday today, to turn its full attention on its digital platform.
Launched on May 22, 2007, the daily was popular in the corporate sector and is said to now been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The move to digital is deemed by industry players as the best means to continue serving and surviving the country’s media industry.
Its publisher and group chief executive officer Datuk Ho Kay Tat and editor-in-chief, Azam Aris in a note to readers entitled “FD says goodbye after 13 years’ said the daily would continue to persevere despite being affected by the global economic crisis and the suspension of its operation in 2015.
“Sadly, FD is unable to survive the double onslaught of the shift to digital news and the current lockdown of the economy because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This will, therefore, be the last issue of FD. But it will not be the last stories our journalists will write for you,” according to them.
Besides that, its weekly The Edge will continue to operate as usual while its website, www.theedgemarkets.com will also continue to provide the latest information on the current economic situation.
“So check in every morning and throughout the day to get the latest news from us,” said Ho and Azam.
Malaysian Press Institute chief executive officer Datuk Dr Chamil Wariya said the decision to stop the print edition is another sad episode in the history Malaysian journalism.
“…but I think the lockdown (COVID-19) sort of hit them (The Edge Media Group) very badly. People will no longer buy the paper, because they must stay at home.
“But the good thing is that, although they are closing the physical hard copy, but they are migrating seriously to online news reporting. I think the future of news media would be mainly online, which is a good move in a way,” he said when contacted by Bernama.
At the same time, he also commended the newspaper for serving the economic community for long even though the daily print edition was only available in the Klang Valley.
“I just wish them a successful journey onward, and hopefully the business community will continue support The Edge,” he said.
