Oriental Daily to cease printing, go fully online tomorrow

Local Chinese-language newspaper Oriental Daily will cease publications and go fully digital on April 17 after 18 years of publication.

Oriental Daily, which was launched on Sept 29, 2002, announced this on their front page of the last print edition today, with the title “See you tomorrow online”.

In a joint statement signed by editor-in-chief Ding Lee Leong and all the staff, the media outlet said the trend of shifting to digital news and the Covid-19 pandemic were double onslaughts that affected the survival of the paper.

“Since the Covid-19 pandemic, advertising revenue has fallen precipitously, causing the traditional print media sector that has struggled for survival into deeper predicaments. This made it even harder to sustain (the business).

“In this new era, we have no choice but to change our track and platform, and we believe that adapting to the changing landscape is the only way out,” the statement said.

Despite the shift to a fully online model, the paper promised it would continue to provide readers quality content and promote social development and democratic reforms.

“We will do our best to discover and focus on important news, following the development both in the country and internationally.”