Magazines/newspaper Subscription

[rb3]

As much as I love reading all the news and happenings in TV, sometimes nothing beats holding a magazine or newspaper while taking in all the news/info etc.

Any advice on any local (in English) publications to subscribe, other than Bangkok Post, The Nations what magazines are out here?? Also what is available besides freebies like the guru/bk mag ?

Thanks

rb3

[OldAsiaHand]

The media business is booming here, but only for Thai-language publications. Just last week, two more English-language publications shut down -- Business Day and Thai Day. Just before that another had ceased publication -- Metro Magazine.

The English-language business here is very limited and it's hard to recommend anything. There's Thailand Tatler, of course (if you are interested in what passes for high society here); there's the Big Chili (if you are interested in Brit expats getting drunk and talking about rugby); there's Living (if you're interested in the lives and times of predominately Indian expats); there's Time Out (if you're interested in tourist-targeted restaurant reviews and bland features about people you never heard of); there's...well, never mind. You get the idea.

After the Nation and the Post, the only other coverage of substantive local matters is in regional publlication like the Wall Street Journal Asia and the International Herald Tribune.

[Tywais]

I used to see magazines like Time and Newsweek readily available at Thai bookstores but don't know if that is still true.

[OldAsiaHand]

Sure, but they're the lame (and thin) 'Asia-Pacific' editions, not the real thing.

[samran]

what's the story behind metro magazine going under? They seemed quite established?

[think_too_mut]

Financial Times, The Asian Wall Street Journal - arrive to bookstores about lunchtime, the day of printing. About 2:30pm in Pattaya.

The Economist on Saturdays.

[OldAsiaHand]

what's the story behind metro magazine going under? They seemed quite established?

My understanding is that it always struggled commercially. From personal knowledge, I am aware that the owners have been looking for a buyer for several years without any apparent success and seem to have grown increasingly desperate.

We could debate whether the magazine was any good -- I think it was pretty pointless myself -- but the plain fact is that attracting core advertising to an English-language magazine in Thailand isn't easy. In particular it isn't easy when the magazine itself doesn't really have broad appeal to the kind of people advertisers want to reach, and for some reason Metro increasingly directed its content toward youngish foreigners drifting around Bangkok. That's anything but a hot market for English-language advertisers.

[rb3]

So, what does expat usually read? Do they read at all?? I am subscribing US magazine and have them send it to BKK, but it gets too pricey and I rather have some local info.

Edited September 17, 2006 by rb3

[farangene]

So, what does expat usually read? Do they read at all?? I am subscribing US magazine and have them send it to BKK, but it gets too pricey and I rather have some local info.

I read Time and Fortune. If you subscribe to The Nation paper, you get a pretty good rate on magazines at the same time About 5k for both Time and The Nation for a year as I recall.

As mentioned previously, both magazines are lightweight versions of the US version but contain the main news nuggets.

Edited September 17, 2006 by farangene

[Arsenal]

Actually you can buy almost any foreign English language periodical in Bangkok courtesy of Bookazine outlets.The same outfit alias Distrithai imports an amazing variety of newspapers and periodicals.Distrithai was formerly owned by a private equity operation called Navis but I believe they recently sold out, not sure to whom.Shows that foreigners can run/own decent businesses in Thailand.

[Florin]

I'm assuming "Farang" magazine still operates...haven't read it in a while, but it is an OK publication, of the Metro type.

[andy1308]

Hi,

On the subject of Metro Magazine, does any have any contacts besides the details listed on their website. I'd like to get in contact with the owners if it's not too late.

Andy.

[andy1308]

Hi everyone,

For the record Metro Magazine has not totally ceased publication. I understand they are suspending publication for a couple of months to conduct an overhaul of their organisation. I think Metro will be back - in one form or another.

Andy.

[fxm88]

Bookazine, at least, gets a pretty decent selection of magazines. From Businessweek @ 120 baht, to The Harvard Business Review @ a price that will make you choke, and lots of stuff in between. I don't know what happens to the unsold magazines, once in a while they'll put out a box of really old stuff on discount.

Not many local magazines -- the demographics make it hard to get subscribers and advertising, I guess. One might think some portion of the farang population would try their hand at magazine publishing given that in America "roughly 1,000 magazines are launched every year" ("9 out of 10 new magazines fail"); maybe it's on the prohibited jobs list or something.

Sadly, there's not a single Thailand-based 'zine as far as I know. (I would be pleased to be proved wrong on this point.)

[andy1308]

Hi,

I work for a publishing company and our unsold magazines are normally sold very cheaply in bulk (1 or 2 baht each) to people who then sell them on at places like JJ.

Launching titles here is hard, believe me. Advertising is obviously the key, and many agencies want at least 6-12 months track record before they will even consider placing advertising with you. Plus the fact that there are more and more ways for companies to spend their marketing and advertising budget. Unless you can invest something like 5-10 million baht in a new magazine, and wait for any sizeable return, then it's very, very difficult to start anything new.

English titles in particular are struggling; just look at Business Day, Thai Day and Metro in recent weeks, plus Metropolis 107FM. The market here appears to favour Thai magazines and media at the moment, which is understandable but confusing given the government's desire for people to learn English.

That said, what sort of Thailand-based English magazine would everyone like to see? What kind of content would appeal to you?

Andy.

[backflip]

"I used to see magazines like Time and Newsweek readily available at Thai bookstores but don't know if that is still true"

Funny, I don't know what you see at the bookstores either. "Time" and "Newsweek" and readily available, either at the bookstores, or through subscription.

[andy1308]

Hi,

I think all 'Western' titles are available by subscription, but you'll end up paying about the same for delivery to Thailand as if you were to buy them locally every month.

Subscriptions elsewhere in the world are more widely accepted and used - yet in Thailand most people prefer to buy their titles on a monthly basis, even with substantial discounts or incentives. That applies to local and 'Western' titles equally.

Andy.

[fxm88]

Sure, but they're the lame (and thin) 'Asia-Pacific' editions, not the real thing.

Not the real thing? HA! Check this out! (I was honestly surprised such shenanigans go on. Which version do you get if you're a subscriber?)

The United States edition of the October 2, 2006 issue of Newsweek features a radically different cover story from its International counterparts...

The cover of International editions, aimed at Europe, Asia, and Latin America, displays in large letters the title "LOSING AFGHANISTAN," along with an arresting photograph of an armed jihadi.

The cover of the United States edition, in contrast, is dedicated to celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz and is demurely captioned "My Life in Pictures."

...

Source: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Newsweek...ional_0925.html

Edited September 26, 2006 by fxm88

[OldAsiaHand]

It hardly seems to me there is anything particularly sinister about that. It's common practice for the international editions of magazines to have different covers, even different contents, since they are directed to fundamentally different audiences.

Did you realize that both CNN and BBC as braodcast outside their home countries are completely different services? Of course you did.

[andy1308]

Hi,

Licensed local editions of global titles will always have some element of local content - it's part of the agreement between the overseas publisher and the local publisher. The actual amount can vary wildly from 10 per cent up to 90 per cent, depending on the title and requirements of each publisher. Many of the 'Western' titles in Thailand are just translated word for word from the original title with little or no local content.

Andy.

[fxm88]

It hardly seems to me there is anything particularly sinister about that. It's common practice for the international editions of magazines to have different covers, even different contents, since they are directed to fundamentally different audiences.

Did you realize that both CNN and BBC as braodcast outside their home countries are completely different services? Of course you did.

Of course they're going to tailor the content to the audience. The only thing "sinsiter" about it is that the American audience perfers -- and gets -- fluff. Normally this would only be "sad" or "funny", but unfortunately this audience also has a lot of bombs and a penchant for using them.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

When I first came here they sold the Singapore FHM in most newsagents for around 100 baht - I miss magazines a lot - can't read TV on the toilet!

[OldAsiaHand]

It hardly seems to me there is anything particularly sinister about that. It's common practice for the international editions of magazines to have different covers, even different contents, since they are directed to fundamentally different audiences.

Did you realize that both CNN and BBC as braodcast outside their home countries are completely different services? Of course you did.

Of course they're going to tailor the content to the audience. The only thing "sinsiter" about it is that the American audience perfers -- and gets -- fluff. Normally this would only be "sad" or "funny", but unfortunately this audience also has a lot of bombs and a penchant for using them.

Oh, come on. There's fluff; and there's smug, pathetically ignorant fluff. You seem squarely in the latter category. That is indeed both "sad" and "funny.'

[bendix]

the Economist every time for me. I've been a regular reader for 15 years - by far the best written and most intelligent magazine available. And very cheap in Thailand too.

I also pick up Spectator every couple of weeks and if I want a fix of a British newspaper, there are always those 'same day' satellite printing jobs, easily accessible at most places in Sukhumvit.

[steveromagnino]

the Economist every time for me. I've been a regular reader for 15 years - by far the best written and most intelligent magazine available. And very cheap in Thailand too.

I also pick up Spectator every couple of weeks and if I want a fix of a British newspaper, there are always those 'same day' satellite printing jobs, easily accessible at most places in Sukhumvit.

Yep agree, Economist is the only decent read for business - Forbes, Newsweek Time and Fortune are a definite step down. The Economist do a fair to very good job (depending on the story) of covering Asia in every issue unlike the more American centric mags like Fortune (where i am presumably either getting the American edition, or that the Asian edition assumes i am only interested in America) that tend to only cover Asia to the extend that it affects America and Europe and literally anything they can find about China, but ignoring the rest of the developing world.

I thought they completely stuffed up understanding Thailand and Thaksin, but theirs is just one point of view (as is mine).

Economist delves into some interesting parts of the world like Africa, south pacific and eastern Europe; and even has some nice humour from time to time. By far the best cartoons.

Time is just drivel from start to finish in any edition; sadly it didn't used to be like that. That is, sadly that it is like that now, not sadly that it wasn't like that before maybe I is can teach engrish?

There are some interesting articles available on line such as The Pacific Review which sometimes are about Thailand - great article for instance from McCargo which in light of recent events seems more appropriate; I think you will get far greater insights into Thailand from those rather than reading things like Big Chilli or most of the other expat mags which are 90 pages of restuarant ads, self congratulatory pics of what passes for white male hi so either dart players or middle aged men in night clubs or golf players surrounded by upcountry bar girls (except for the golfers, who are usually surrounded by divots ), a few digs at Thailand in the TIT vein and some bad jokes.

If you can get some Thai down, then there are some interesting student mags; most of the rest you can use the net for to get more current and more interesting versions. For sure this is a cheap place to read; where I grew up magazines are at least 200b each and economist was something like 300b; here they are cheaper than that by 1/3 to 1/2.

For the hiso component (if for some reason you need to know about that, can't think why) then Prestige has probably taken the crown for coverage; their mag is actually not bad.

The Property Report reads like a series of press releases, but is not bad I suppose if that is your thing.

THe car and house sale magazines are cheap and a good read for prices; plus some skin pics usually as well.

Edited September 28, 2006 by steveromagnino

[jomama]

What about the Tatler?