Malawi BNL's new media editor, Arnold Chachacha Munthali told Bizcommunity that the e-edition was started at the request of Malawians in the diaspora who wanted to be in touch with events back home but had no privilege of accessing our printed edition.
"Online news portals may provide the news, but the e-edition provides more than just that, as it is about the context in which the news is appearing as it carries all the content on printed edition, from adverts to news," said Munthali.
He said the e-edition is part of larger e-product base which Mobitimes is developing.
Other products include the Big Question (a weekly poll on socio-political issues), Lonely Hearts and the Big Fan (for sports).
Munthali said the response has been overwhelming thus far, with frequent requests from subscribers including those who are based in Malawi.
BNL started the e-edition service silently and Munthali says they did not see the need to make noise about it because it was promoted mostly online for those that have no access to the printed paper especially in the Diaspora.
Without mentioning the exact figures that have been involved, Munthali said the e-edition investment is mostly in software platform and expertise to repackage the stories, staffing in New Media Section, otherwise the materials are already available from the printed paper.
The BNL e-edition can be accessed on the BNL website (www.bnltimes.com/membership/home-page.html)
User need to select and subscribe to the newspaper company's four titles: Daily Times, Weekend Times, Malawi News and Sunday Times.
Different membership types are available where subscribers can choose to get a 12 month, six month, or three month subscription at various costs.
Payments can be made through the secure credit card system, PayPal, as well as an offline payment.
