Cmai Newspapers + Mags...

[jayinoz]

I have noticed CMai mail getting slimmer by the month. I returning to CMai since 2007, the CMai mail was at least 3 times larger. Surely they getting enough readers- what going on.I found the new Expat handout good yet small.Citylife is very commercial- not much news yet OK for a read.What else have we got- whilst we have the largest community forum in Thailand. We seriously lag behind Phuket, pattaya, BKK when it comes to News and Events newspapers.What other mags and papers are out there? What are the best?TV naturally been my main event for the last few months... then BKK Post...then nation. Sometimes grab CMai mail, pattaya gazette (just for their wild west stories-Lol) and CityLife.

[gotlost]

Very unfortunate but Chiang Mai does not have or has never had a reliable source of English news in print.. Thai Visa is the best source of news for Chiang Mai. I find it very amusing when anything of importance about Chiang Mai breaks in Pattaya One.

[ThaiWx]

CMai Mail on line has recently cut back as well. They used to update once a week and now twice a month.

This site, https://www.osac.gov....cfm?country=33 has some current CMai news and security bulletins I refer to frequently.

Edited October 9, 2010 by ThaiWx

[uptheos]

Very unfortunate but Chiang Mai does not have or has never had a reliable source of English news in print.. Thai Visa is the best source of news for Chiang Mai. I find it very amusing when anything of importance about Chiang Mai breaks in Pattaya One.

Although I like reading paperback books, I can't remember the last time I bothered to read any magazine/paper in Chiang Mai.

The Chiang Mai Mail is awful and City Life is just a glossy advertising magazine, which can be read online if required.

There are others if you are looking for spa's or facial treatments.

TV is the best source of news in Chiang Mai

[gotlost]

Very unfortunate but Chiang Mai does not have or has never had a reliable source of English news in print.. Thai Visa is the best source of news for Chiang Mai. I find it very amusing when anything of importance about Chiang Mai breaks in Pattaya One.

Although I like reading paperback books, I can't remember the last time I bothered to read any magazine/paper in Chiang Mai.

The Chiang Mai Mail is awful and City Life is just a glossy advertising magazine, which can be read online if required.

There are others if you are looking for spa's or facial treatments.

TV is the best source of news in Chiang Mai

At times its the only source.

[uptheos]

Very unfortunate but Chiang Mai does not have or has never had a reliable source of English news in print.. Thai Visa is the best source of news for Chiang Mai. I find it very amusing when anything of importance about Chiang Mai breaks in Pattaya One.

Although I like reading paperback books, I can't remember the last time I bothered to read any magazine/paper in Chiang Mai.

The Chiang Mai Mail is awful and City Life is just a glossy advertising magazine, which can be read online if required.

There are others if you are looking for spa's or facial treatments.

TV is the best source of news in Chiang Mai

At times its the only source.

I know people that have nervous breakdown's if they can't find a free City Life.

[PETDCAT]

I know people that spend their entire lives just making comments on Thaivisa.

[uptheos]

I know people that spend their entire lives just making comments on Thaivisa.

Yep, my average is 1.4 comments a day.

Hit a nerve did it?

[jayjay0]

Very unfortunate but Chiang Mai does not have or has never had a reliable source of English news in print.. Thai Visa is the best source of news for Chiang Mai. I find it very amusing when anything of importance about Chiang Mai breaks in Pattaya One.

Although I like reading paperback books, I can't remember the last time I bothered to read any magazine/paper in Chiang Mai.

The Chiang Mai Mail is awful and City Life is just a glossy advertising magazine, which can be read online if required.

There are others if you are looking for spa's or facial treatments.

TV is the best source of news in Chiang Mai

At times its the only source.

All to true. Problem being it is not exactly what one would consider as reliable.

[Flatouthruthefog]

CMai Mail on line has recently cut back as well. They used to update once a week and now twice a month.

This site, https://www.osac.gov....cfm?country=33 has some current CMai news and security bulletins I refer to frequently.

The local economy is in the doldrums and this is reflected by our local media.

CM Mail (the newspaper is now fortnightly, as well as the website) suffers from having almost no-one to sell advertising, which is probably why the tenure of its young 'local' MD was so brief. He was recalled to Pattaya from whence he came after a very few weeks.

The 2 senior people there, the American lady with fluent Thai and the Thai editor with very good English, are both hard workers who know what they are doing, but their scope is financially extremely limited. How, for instance, do they get quality freelancers for free? It's high time that the wealthy, absentee, Pattaya owner realised that the emphasis goes on the LANCE, not the FREE.

I think the writing is on the wall for the CM Mail. The previous (English) incumbent was very optimistic about raising money for a replacement weekly, after she resigned, and then found exactly how bad the times are. Not a penny of investment to be had.

Citylife, as a monthly, would find it tough indeed to do news, and in my view Pim is wise to avoid it. But it is a very long time since her features have had any 'bite'. Not enough controversy for me. And as a Thai, she is in an ideal position to know how far to go - and how. And if I see a photo of Dr Howard in there one more time, I too will give up on it.

Oh and what happened to the much vaunted local English language radio station? And talk of TV?

And the websites of 'The Nation' and that OTHER English national daily? They are so very badly designed and impossible to navigate, they must exist only to force us to buy the papers!

Nope, this 'ere is the only quick source at present. Even if reading some threads is rather like those compulsive, passing

glances we make at really bad road accidents.

[neilrob]

Good summary Flatout. I agree with you about City Life. I hope that the CM Mail makes it through to a better high season, with the hard working people running it, but it is certainly an uphill struggle.

[gotlost]

I know people that spend their entire lives just making comments on Thaivisa.

Yep, my average is 1.4 comments a day.

Hit a nerve did it?

You can do better than that.

[electracm]

CMai Mail on line has recently cut back as well. They used to update once a week and now twice a month.

This site, https://www.osac.gov....cfm?country=33 has some current CMai news and security bulletins I refer to frequently.

The local economy is in the doldrums and this is reflected by our local media.

CM Mail (the newspaper is now fortnightly, as well as the website) suffers from having almost no-one to sell advertising, which is probably why the tenure of its young 'local' MD was so brief. He was recalled to Pattaya from whence he came after a very few weeks.

The 2 senior people there, the American lady with fluent Thai and the Thai editor with very good English, are both hard workers who know what they are doing, but their scope is financially extremely limited. How, for instance, do they get quality freelancers for free? It's high time that the wealthy, absentee, Pattaya owner realised that the emphasis goes on the LANCE, not the FREE.

I think the writing is on the wall for the CM Mail. The previous (English) incumbent was very optimistic about raising money for a replacement weekly, after she resigned, and then found exactly how bad the times are. Not a penny of investment to be had.

Citylife, as a monthly, would find it tough indeed to do news, and in my view Pim is wise to avoid it. But it is a very long time since her features have had any 'bite'. Not enough controversy for me. And as a Thai, she is in an ideal position to know how far to go - and how. And if I see a photo of Dr Howard in there one more time, I too will give up on it.

Oh and what happened to the much vaunted local English language radio station? And talk of TV?

And the websites of 'The Nation' and that OTHER English national daily? They are so very badly designed and impossible to navigate, they must exist only to force us to buy the papers!

Nope, this 'ere is the only quick source at present. Even if reading some threads is rather like those compulsive, passing

glances we make at really bad road accidents.

Nice post , but as a friend of the previous (English) incumbent mentioned, she didn't give up because she couldn't get financing, she stopped trying to get financing because the person who had encouraged her to try to get another paper started turned out to be not quite what she'd been led to believe, so she decided she couldn't work with that person and gave up on the idea.

Sad, really.

[Ulysses G.]

I know people that spend their entire lives just making comments on Thaivisa.

Yep, my average is 1.4 comments a day.

Mostly pretty good ones.

[ThaiPauly]

CMai Mail on line has recently cut back as well. They used to update once a week and now twice a month.

This site, https://www.osac.gov....cfm?country=33 has some current CMai news and security bulletins I refer to frequently.

The local economy is in the doldrums and this is reflected by our local media.

CM Mail (the newspaper is now fortnightly, as well as the website) suffers from having almost no-one to sell advertising, which is probably why the tenure of its young 'local' MD was so brief. He was recalled to Pattaya from whence he came after a very few weeks.

The 2 senior people there, the American lady with fluent Thai and the Thai editor with very good English, are both hard workers who know what they are doing, but their scope is financially extremely limited. How, for instance, do they get quality freelancers for free? It's high time that the wealthy, absentee, Pattaya owner realised that the emphasis goes on the LANCE, not the FREE.

I think the writing is on the wall for the CM Mail. The previous (English) incumbent was very optimistic about raising money for a replacement weekly, after she resigned, and then found exactly how bad the times are. Not a penny of investment to be had.

Citylife, as a monthly, would find it tough indeed to do news, and in my view Pim is wise to avoid it. But it is a very long time since her features have had any 'bite'. Not enough controversy for me. And as a Thai, she is in an ideal position to know how far to go - and how. And if I see a photo of Dr Howard in there one more time, I too will give up on it.

Oh and what happened to the much vaunted local English language radio station? And talk of TV?

And the websites of 'The Nation' and that OTHER English national daily? They are so very badly designed and impossible to navigate, they must exist only to force us to buy the papers!

Nope, this 'ere is the only quick source at present. Even if reading some threads is rather like those compulsive, passing

glances we make at really bad road accidents.

Nice post , but as a friend of the previous (English) incumbent mentioned, she didn't give up because she couldn't get financing, she stopped trying to get financing because the person who had encouraged her to try to get another paper started turned out to be not quite what she'd been led to believe, so she decided she couldn't work with that person and gave up on the idea.

Sad, really.

Yes, a shame

[jayinoz]

So as hardcopy publications we have the sources of CityLife and CMai mail left- that a bit sad from all the publications I use to read years ago.

Also CMai mail used to be x5 thicker, now it a very thin paper- really not worth the 30bt anymore- i think its time is done. As this is not Pattaya with thriving newspapers like Pattaya Gazette and Mail.

I noticed an Expat flyer that was thin yet interesting... I guess times are changing in Cmai- it is no BKK, Pattaya or Phuket.

Still many of us whom live here like CMai far better than the above- yet we are getting very outnumbered.

Cheers jay

[Sao Jiang Mai]

Interesting read. It is all to do with the economy. Chiang Mai's readers simply are not willing to pay for magazines/newspapers in enough numbers. This means that advertisers become king, they are the ones who pay for your reading pleasure, so it is a tough line to walk. We bring at least half a dozen advertising-independent features to readers every month, but most of our readers understand that this has to be paid for by advertisers, hence all the glossy ads! I don't think there is anything wrong with that...in a free mag! You can't possibly compare it to a paid mag.

I do feel for Chiang Mai Mail because the editor is doing a marvelous job within her limited scope but the economy is just killing everyone right now. Three years ago there were over a dozen English language publications, now you can count them on a hand. We at Citylife are doing OK...ish since we have been around for ever, but it has still been really really tough and we have had to seriously hustle the past year or two, so I would say give many publications who are still young or have less financing behind them a break, I really believe they are working hard to bring you what they can within their limited budget, and you are pretty much getting everything for free anyway, so maybe try to understand their side a tad too! ThaiVisa is a portal for all sorts of news and information, it is also lucky not to have printing costs, so I think at this point it is a great source for news. My magazine will never do news, how can I when I am monthly? But even when we did weekly news for The Nation, Chiang Mai has a dearth of news compared to the likes of Pattaya...it is hard. But with the internet, is it really necessary to have timely printed news anymore? I don't know...that is another debate for another time.

[Loaded]

When I manage to read a copy of Citylife I always find the articles interesting and informative. Pim's and wee Jimmy's stories are usually original and well-written.

[anonymouse]

When I manage to read a copy of Citylife I always find the articles interesting and informative. Pim's and wee Jimmy's stories are usually original and well-written.

Totally agree, I still reckon they should stick a 100 baht price tag on it and keep up the quality rather than rely on the advertising.

[Sao Jiang Mai]

I wish! We have done our market research, I am afraid not enough of you would pay for it for us to risk losing our advertisers...we will keep tabs on this and when we think that we can, we of course will seriously consider charging for the mag. Until then everyone compromises a little bit - I offer a few extra pages so clients can be happy, and have space to promote their events, feature new offerings and all that;, readers still get big features (we do at least six independent features a month and half a dozen columns which have nothing to do with advertisement at all) but have to wade through more advertising than they may want and most importantly, we get to survive the worst financial crisis of the past decade! Thank you, great feedback.

[jayjay0]

I wish! We have done our market research, I am afraid not enough of you would pay for it for us to risk losing our advertisers...we will keep tabs on this and when we think that we can, we of course will seriously consider charging for the mag. Until then everyone compromises a little bit - I offer a few extra pages so clients can be happy, and have space to promote their events, feature new offerings and all that;, readers still get big features (we do at least six independent features a month and half a dozen columns which have nothing to do with advertisement at all) but have to wade through more advertising than they may want and most importantly, we get to survive the worst financial crisis of the past decade! Thank you, great feedback.

Yes I am one of those who is not willing to wade through the ads. I buy the Chiang Mai Mail but as has been pointed out here it is getting pretty thin. I would be willing to pay for a good newspaper or Magazine with lots of news but the majority of expats won't. There is just to many cheap charlies here and the strong Baht is hurting them.

I know it is a different topic but is there enough expats here to support a good paper. I like the movies and I notice they are getting more Thai movies. Last week we were in the airport mall and it was dead. To rely on TV is a sad thing. If TV did not rely on the nation so much it might be a decent source. For Chiang Mai there is nothing. I asked if there was any thing in Chiang Mai to help the flood victims and got no replies. That in my opinion would be news worth looking at. I did not see it in the Mail either.

[ChiangMaiFun]

I must say I really loath the CMM - it's so subservient to the establishment that I cringe when it fawns and slobbers – whereas CityLife actually has some balls (to the extent that it survives in a censorial culture and can only comment on limited things) and this is the ‘real’ issue – no newspaper or magazine can comment on ‘certain’ things – so it’s not ‘free’ as we are used to in farangland.

[LJW]

Very unfortunate but Chiang Mai does not have or has never had a reliable source of English news in print.. Thai Visa is the best source of news for Chiang Mai. I find it very amusing when anything of importance about Chiang Mai breaks in Pattaya One.

Although I like reading paperback books, I can't remember the last time I bothered to read any magazine/paper in Chiang Mai.

The Chiang Mai Mail is awful and City Life is just a glossy advertising magazine, which can be read online if required.

There are others if you are looking for spa's or facial treatments.

TV is the best source of news in Chiang Mai

At times its the only source.

Thaivisa quotes the news from other sources, it never writes anything.