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Between The Lines is a weekday newsletter that summarises and contextualises the biggest and most important news in Malaysia. The Between The Lines team goes through all the major news publications, collates the most important news of the day, cross-checks that among different news portals, and provides additional insight into what the news means.

Our editor is Darshini Kandasamy, a two-time Malaysian Press Institute Award winner and a former editor at Malaysiakini and Malay Mail.

Our writers are Edward Gomez, a veteran journalist from The Star who is currently pursuing his PhD in media studies; and Leslie Andres, who was a journalist and editor at the New Straits Times for over 20 years.

Eric Tee, who used to be at Yahoo, Singapore Press Holdings and Mediacorp, runs our product and design.

Between The Lines was founded in 2019 by Marc Lourdes, a Malaysian journo who was previously the CNN Apac digital head.

BTL wants to ensure we are never driven or controlled by advertisers, political patrons or other vested interests. The best way to do that and to retain our independence is to ensure we are subscriber-funded.

We spend between 6 to 8 hours compiling, researching, writing and editing the each newsletter, and are currently spending at least RM4,000 a month on this project.

Side note - globally, the trend has been for many news portals to move from free to paid models in order to ensure the sustainability and quality of journalism.

Our newsletter is originally written, but curated from multiple legitimate news sources. However, from time-to-time, we produce long-form content which is 100% original and written by some of the top people in their fields. Here’s the work we’ve done so far.

For your subscription, you will get the newsletter, which will go out to you on a weekday, as well as our specials, which we send out on a periodic basis. Our specials are in-depth pieces that explore issues from angles not often looked at by local media.
If our subscriber base grows, we will also look to launch new features and offerings, and these will also be offered as part of our subscriber package.

Please note that the newsletter goes out on weekdays and not weekends or public holidays.

The website is merely an archive and housing area of content. The main source - and what you are paying for - is the newsletter which arrives in your inbox by 9am on a weekday.

From the Subscribe page, click the Subscribe button to start the checkout process (current subscribers will not need to re-subscribe, we’ll migrate you into the system). Follow on-screen instructions to make payment. Once you've received the Welcome Email in your inbox, you're all set! Simply look forward to your first newsletter the next day.

When you sign up, you will be asked to provide your credit card details. However, you will be asked to make your first payment only at the end of your first month. What this means is that your first month’s subscription is free. 🙂

We accept VISA, Mastercard, and American Express. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept direct debit or bank transfers.

You can unsubscribe by clicking on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the newsletter. This will bring you to your My Account page (you'll need to login). Simply head to the My Subscriptions tab and click the Cancel button.

We'll miss you though 🙁

Your account cancellation will take a few weeks to process. After this period you will be automatically Cancelled, and your card will not be billed. If you would like to be Cancelled immediately instead, please Contact Us.