03-May-23 12:00

Premesh Chandran, Co-founder & Former CEO, Malaysiakini

World Press Freedom Day has been celebrated for 30 years now, always trying to shine a spotlight on the importance of a free press, which has come under increasing pressure following challenges from multiple angles. While the political challenges get more attention, one of the biggest challenges facing news media is how the internet has changed the business model behind journalism, making it more difficult for news organisations to keep the business side in the black.

Just this week, the New York Times reported that Vice Media Group is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy, which comes a few weeks after BuzzFeed said it would shutter its news division, a great illustration of the challenging environment.

All of this increasingly points towards the fact that in order for news media companies to stay alive, they either need to be acquired by the big corporate players or go bankrupt. But are these really the only 2 options?

Today on BizBytes, we take a peek behind the curtain and explore what it takes to run a news media business, the cost that goes into keeping journalism alive, and what the future of news media could look like with Premesh Chandran, co-founder and former CEO of Malaysiakini