29 YEARS ON AND STILL PUBLISHING
It’s hard to imagine any small business lasting 29 years under the best of conditions, much less during financial crises, coups, rising and falling currency, and lately, a global pandemic. Yet here we are, still putting out a print edition every two weeks, and still filling our website with local, national and international news every day. Some might consider it a small miracle.
Of course, no business works in a vacuum, and Pattaya Mail is no exception. We’ve been blessed with some of the best writers in the business, most loyal supporters, and a staff committed to continuing to put out the best, most honest news possible.
We couldn’t have done it without you, the reader, you the advertiser, or you the supporter. It is because of you we’ve continued for 29 years so far, and for you we hope to continue bringing you the best in the east for many years to come.
A Slice of Pattaya History
29 years ago, when Pratheep “Peter” Malhotra decided to step into the world of newspaper publishing, everyone, especially his family wondered whether he had lost his mind.
Peter and his siblings were born in Phitsanulok where their family owned a successful business before moving to Bangkok. During the Vietnam War era Malhotra Senior set up tailor shops in Bangkok and at Utapao, where the three boys Peter, Marlowe and Bill started their business careers. At the end of the ‘war’ as the US troops pulled out of the many bases in Thailand, shopkeepers around the US military installations moved away too, mainly to Bangkok and Pattaya.
Peter’s family moved to Pattaya in 1975 where they set up shop in South Pattaya, now known as Walking Street. During the almost two decades in Pattaya they saw that the community of Thais and expats was growing at a rapid pace.
In the early days, Pattaya was getting an increasingly bad rap in the international press and soon Pattaya became known as the world’s favourite “bad” holiday resort.
In 1991, Peter realized that Pattaya needed a ‘voice’ to protect ourselves from the negative publicity. “We needed a ‘proper English language newspaper to tell our side of the story.” It took 2 years for the application to go through and in 1993 Pattaya Mail received an official license to publish the first English language newspaper on the Eastern Seaboard.
The very first issue was dated July 23, 1993. Three weeks later, the second issue came out, and then weekly thereafter. Those first few months were anything but successful, and if it weren’t for the determination and downright stubbornness of the small but resourceful team, Pattaya Mail would not have made it to Christmas. The most often question asked during the first couple of months was, “Will there be an issue next week?”
But the idea apparently was a good one, for once the first few issues were out, there was no turning back. Causes were fought for and boundaries pushed, sometimes too far, and the news began to get out. “And even though none of us had a clue as to what we were doing or how to do it, we eventually, through trial and error, began to at least get it partly right.”
Over the first few months, the paper changed from full colour to spot colour to all black & white and back to spot colour and full colour again. The team was proud when they were able to produce 20 pages and keep it there. The “will there be an issue next week?” question died out. Advertising sales began to pick up, and the Pattaya Mail was on its way.
With the introduction of our Website on the Internet in 1996, Pattaya Mail took Pattaya’s voice to the world.
Pattaya had gone from being a wild-west town to now being a city with some order. The Pattaya Mail helped that progression by working hard to produce the new order.
Peter said, “We can also be proud that our aims were achieved. Campaigns initiated and/or supported by us, bore fruit and gradually Pattaya changed and the perception of Pattaya, in the eyes of the world, also changed.
“The Pattaya Mail grew and gained a large following and readership along the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand. Our commitment to publish the truth remains until today and our strongest wish is to increase the awareness of Pattaya residents and visitors alike to the fact that we have a precious jewel here and we must guard and nurture it.”
Now twenty-nine years later, our long serving and loyal co-workers keep an almost-avuncular eye over the entire paper. Faces change, but the concepts and the principles remain the same.
Peter went on to say, “The Pattaya Mail has given me the greatest opportunity to meet people and I don’t mean people only in high society. My job has taken me to many places where I experienced the pain of people suffering hunger, sickness and injustices caused by other human beings. Pattaya Mail has been my vehicle to reach out and give any assistance that we possibly could give. To continue to show its position as not only the ‘Best in the East’, acknowledged annually by the Eastern Media Association, the lengthy publishing history of the Pattaya Mail shows that it is also the longest running fortnightly newspaper covering Pattaya and the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
The Pattaya Mail touches on many facets of life in Pattaya. The news sections inform the readership just what is going on, both from the municipal point of view, with our editors being invited for information sharing sessions with City Hall plus the police news reports on some of the more nefarious members of the community; the sporting section covers the local sports; the Mail Market with items for sale, jobs, business opportunities, real estate and more, covering a dozen pages or more each week. Automobiles, films, TV and book reviews are there too, and not downloads from the internet, but reports of what is happening right here in Pattaya.
With an English language newspaper, there are also international reports covering the English-speaking world from films, entertainment and sports.
With many service clubs and charities in Pattaya, the Pattaya Mail also covers them all, not just with a photo of an event, but with real positive assistance and promotion where needed. The charities know that even after 29 years they still have a true friend and ally in the Pattaya Mail.
Residents and visitors still look forward to getting a copy of the Pattaya Mail on every alternate Friday.
Our sales at stores are steady, and you’ll be amazed to know that we distribute hundreds of copies to the expat and local communities through various channels ‘free of charge’.
Our thinking is, we prefer to see the paper distributed and read widely rather than sitting on the shelves of supermarkets waiting to be bought. The more people read the paper, the more exposure our advertisers get.
Hence, we still get hundreds of requests to not only promote but to also cover and publish community and commercial events in our newspaper and website, because the Pattaya Mail is the most effective media to get the word out to the world at large.
We are very much advanced and have taken giant leaps into the world of digital media. Everything that we publish in the paper is reproduced on our websites and linked to our Daily Newsletter and all our Facebook pages. Our websites also publish original news and blogs daily.
The Pattaya Mail has and will continue to take a leadership stance in this town by informing the business community of the benefits of mainstream newspaper and online advertising and how to increase traffic and maximize returns.
In a business sense, Pattaya Mail is not just selling advertising space, but we are selling solutions to increased traffic and revenue streams in all forms of media. After all we are your preferred partner in business and intend to remain so for many years to come.
 |
 |
 |
