Message from Managing Director Peter Malhotra
Having resided and doing business in Pattaya since 1975, I realised that Pattaya needed a ‘voice’ to defend ourselves from enormous negative publicity hitting us domestically and internationally.
That voice would have to be in the form of a ‘proper English language newspaper’. The national dailies were not serving the needs of Pattaya. In fact, in many cases it seemed they did not care about Pattaya, or that we were just too small to worry about.
And so it came to pass. The Pattaya Mail was born on 23 July 1993.
When the Pattaya Mail celebrated its fifth anniversary, Chuck Pringle, the editor of our very first issue saw it this way, “Five years on! There were many who, when they saw the first issue of Pattaya Mail five years ago, said, ‘They won’t last the year out’.”
23 years later under the leadership of Executive Editor Daniel Dorothy we are still going strong. This year we were again awarded ‘The Best in the East’ from the Eastern Mass Media Association for the 18th consecutive year. But let me assure you achieving this award year after year didn’t come easy.
The print media is going through some tough challenges, but those of us who persevere are proving that the print media still has a constant and bright future.
The Pattaya Mail is a local newspaper that covers Pattaya and the Eastern Seaboard and we are a household name in our communities. Readers look forward with anticipation to receiving their paper copies every Friday. It’s a unique niche market and we cater to the needs of both our traditional and nouveau readers.
True, the age of the internet and new online media is upon us and has become the new fad of the ‘now’ generation. And I am the first one to say ‘yes’ we must innovate and march forward into the future.
But there are still generations of the old guard newsprint readers who believe that to hold a paper copy of a newspaper in their hands, flip through the pages, see the full stories and photographs, still brings them much more delight and satisfaction than looking at a tiny screen.
And the most important point of all is to be able to see and read advertisements in their true form, either in black and white or in living colour that attracts consumers to the numerous advertisers’ products and service establishments.
The print media can project the full effect of what the advertiser intends for the potential client to see more effectively than on a small hand held device.
But yes of course, we are also moving forward rapidly with the times. Pattaya Mail, Pattaya Blatt, Chiang Mai Mail and PMTV Online have been operating excellent websites for more than 15 years. And now our presence is even stronger with the advent of Facebook.
We can now with confidence say that our print media has become even stronger and more effective because of that. Not only do our readers have a choice of reading the news in print form, but can now also enjoy the marvels of our online content.
Advertisers in our print edition actually get multiple bonuses, because their news, information and promotions in our print edition are also available online. Imagine buying 1 and getting 8 free! You can’t get a better deal than this.
This is already looking like a most positive year for the Pattaya Mail Media Group and we want all our friends, readers and clients to celebrate and benefit from our 23 years of dedicated commitment and service to our community.
I take my hat off to each and every one of the Pattaya Mail family. Thank you for your enduring trust, loyalty and hard work for our organisation. Thank you for staying by my side through thick and thin, collectively keeping our shoulders to the wheel and our noses to the grindstone.
I thank our friends, readers and clients for your support throughout the years.
When we reach the big Two-Five in a couple of years, it’s going to be one helluva celebration.
You ain’t seen nothing yet!
