Today, the news media is a lethargic business with few investors keen to place advertisements, or at least contribute to keep online journalism afloat.

In turn, the media itself became the news, especially with the closure of The Malaysian Insider (TMI) at midnight yesterday. It joined KiniBiz, The Rakyat Post, The Ant Daily, FZ.com and ABN News, among others, that have either shut or downsized their operations.

The Edge Media Group, owner of TMI, has also been downsizing since its January announcement to staff that it is restructuring by streamlining operations and conducting layoffs.

Looking to hire a journalist? There are some 100 of them out there looking for jobs.

Added to the lack of fund inflow into the online news business is stricter enforcement by the authorities, as they rally around Premier Najib Razak, who is trying to fob off allegations over financial donations and mishandling of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

According to independent watchdog Freedom House, Malaysia’s press status as of last year was “Not Free” and the organisation noted that self-censorship is common due to threats of legal action.

The Edge Media Group cited a lack of finances in shutting TMI.

“Despite the fact that TMI is one of the top three news portals based on traffic in Malaysia because of its courageous news reporting, it did not receive enough commercial support to keep it going,” group chief executive Ho Kay Tat said. Its announcement came two weeks after the government blocked the site for violating the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Ho said: “We will be letting go of all the 59 TMI staff and they will receive a severance package as required by law.”

In a separate statement, TMI editor Jahabar Sadiq said it had worked to “make all voices heard in this marketplace of ideas”.

Opposition MP Lim Kit Siang said the government is headed towards a “dark age” by blocking TMI and disregarding the country’s Multimedia Super Corridor pledge to ensure no censorship of the Internet.

The Malaysian Insider shut down

The Malaysian Insider (TMI) was updated for the final time last night, before powering down at midnight after an eight-year run that saw it become one of the best-read news sites in the politics-obsessed nation.

In June 2014, it was the marquee addition to what was The Edge Media Group’s brave expansion project. Ironically, the sudden closure of what has been a staple read for hundreds of thousands of politics junkies also marks the shocking pace at which Tong Kooi Ong’s media empire has shrunk since courting controversy with a slew of exposes on the government’s investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The Edge Media Group said in a statement that the shutdown of the site, which drew over a million unique visitors per month, came after it failed to “receive enough commercial support”.

“TEMG (The Edge Media Group) has incurred losses of around 10 million ringgit (US$2.42 million) in the 20 months since we acquired TMI in June 2014, and we are no longer in a position to keep it going,” said chief executive Ho Kay Tat.

Ho said three existing media players showed interest after The Edge made it known the website was for sale. TMI chief editor Jahabar Sadiq also led a management buyout.

But the fact that an agreement failed to be reached for what is Malaysia’s top free-to-read news website reflects deeper problems that have plagued The Edge’s operations in the past two years.

Ho cited “the recent problems TMI had with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission” as the key stumbling block in negotiations which began even before the regulator ordered Malaysian Internet providers to cut off access to the website on February 25 due to the publishing of “unverified reports”.

The Straits Times understands that while many have been able to work around the block, the site lost about 20 per cent of its eyeballs but The Edge refused to budge on its asking price.

TMI’s closure comes just a fortnight shy of a year after Ho, Jahabar and three others were detained overnight over an article claiming that Malaysia’s nine rulers – influential heads of Islam in their respective states – had rejected a proposal to introduce Islamic criminal law, which the royals denied doing.

The Edge had also been running exposes on 1MDB’s controversial dealings. In July, Tong and Ho admitted to obtaining reams of stolen data from Swiss national Andre Xavier Justo, who was being held in Thailand for blackmailing his former employer PetroSaudi, an energy firm that was a joint venture partner with 1MDB.

But the revelation that hit Tong’s credibility was the admission that he never intended to pay Justo the promised US$2 million in exchange for about 400,000 pages of documents. The government swept in just days after, suspending The Edge’s printing licence on the grounds of national security.

By the time it overturned the decision in court two months later, the damage had been done. Other business titles had filled the void and advertisers began to view The Edge as toxic, in a market where government relations are all important.

In January, The Edge told its staff that it had to restructure due to headwinds expected across 2016/2017.

By then, some staff had already been asked to leave, its attempt at a regional magazine had failed, and the loss-making TMI had to be taken off its books.