Not easy for The Malaysian Insight to charge for content

Malaysiakini is an anomaly. It is probably the only news organization in Malaysia that can charge for content.

Of course other media outlets -- mainstream and alternative -- would like to do so as well. But they can't because the public is too spoiled on free content for so long now. It's impossible for them to put up a paywall.

Well, The Malaysian Insight is going to give it a shot. Starting July 1, it will charge for access to its content.

I'm afraid it will probably fail to get enough subscribers to make ends meet. This has nothing to do with the quality of its content, which is quite good. It has everything to do with the mindset of Malaysian readers who are used to free content. No other content provider charges for access, other than Malaysiakini.

So what makes Mkini so special? Malaysiakini has got one thing that no other publication has -- the goodwill and support of civil society. As Anwar himself put it:

“At a time when we had massive restrictions, where the media was nothing but incessant propaganda, Malaysiakini was there."

Malaysiakini has been prosecuted, persecuted, had its office raided but it kept on reporting alternative political news and views that mainstream media was not reporting. It imposed a paywall pretty early on and at first the take up rate was not great but over time, more and more people paid for access because they appreciated what Malaysiakini was doing.

Today, because of its huge traffic, it's also able to get quite a lot of advertising. So, Malaysiakini has got paid subscription and advertising going for it. That's how it survives.

The Malaysian Insight is a good read, for sure. And sometimes it even gets scoops that Malaysiakini didn't have. For example, it was the first to report about the Tommy Thomas issue. But unless it can consistently get scoops like that, I don't think many people will pay for access. It doesn't enjoy the special goodwill that people have for Malaysiakini. So people will ask themselves whether the news they can get from TMI is so unique, so special, so exclusive that they have to pay for it. The answer will inevitably be no. Whatever TMI reports, it's just a matter of time before other media outlets (namely Malaysiakini) picks up on it too. That makes it hard for it to charge.

Can it survive on advertising? Possibly if it attract a ton of traffic. Like I said, it's a pretty good read so maybe it will be able to do this. But the paywall won't work.