A major Bangkok English-language newspaper is set to shutter its printed editions, according to a source quoted by The Bangkok Post and Khaosod English.
The report says that states paper issues of The Nation, the English-language daily, will be discontinued in favour of a solely online platform. The last edition is expected to run on June 28. A formal announcement is expected “soon”, with staff meeting to discuss details, the report said.
The company will continue in the media business but devote its resources to its online platform, which will be operated by its current team of news professionals, he added.
“Finally, we are entering the ‘Last Chapter’ of a 48-year era,” the paper’s business editor, Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn, said in a Facebook post. The Nation’s managing editor Supalak Ganjanakhundee posted a message on his Facebook account earlier preparing staff for a “hard landing”
The Nation’s English language daily was founded on July 1, 1971, or 48 years ago. In recent years, the paper has been plagued by financial losses. Nation Multimedia Group, which owns The Nation, lost 1.7 billion baht in 2017 alone.
In 2015, a co-founder of the Nation Multimedia Group, Suttichai Yoon, resigned as chief editor and chairman in 2018, a news mogul behind ultraconservative outlet T News acquired a majority of shares in the Nation group.
The Nation Multimedia Group consists of two digital TV stations, two Thai papers, a publishing house, and an English paper.
Papers have been shutting left and right since the advent of social media in Thailand.
