Newspaper scores coup with readers through Anwar's release<\/p>\n
Rita Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Newspaper stands have been doing brisk business in Kuala Lumpur
\nas Malaysians snap up news about Anwar Ibrahim, who was freed on
\nThursday when the Supreme Court acquitted him of a sodomy
\nconviction.<\/p>\n
The major English-language daily The Star, which has a daily
\ncirculation of more than 300,000, printed a special 16-page
\nbreaking news edition, which appeared on the street at 11 p.m. on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
It was a hit with readers by providing 20,000 complimentary
\ncopies.<\/p>\n
The edition contained news of Anwar's release under the
\nheadline Anwar Freed, comments of former prime minister Dr.
\nMahathir Mohamad and elaborate chronology of charges against
\nAnwar.<\/p>\n
There was also a behind-the-scenes look at the verdict, and
\nthe backgrounds of the Panel of Judges who freed him.<\/p>\n
Readers welcomed the edition, which was circulated in some of
\nthe city's most upmarket areas, such as Bukit Damansara, where
\nAnwar and his family live.<\/p>\n
A resident of Kuala Lumpur, Min Yeoh, said she was glad she
\ncould grab the paper at a hypermarket on her way home from the
\noffice.<\/p>\n
\"It is such important news for us and I am happy I could read
\nit from the newspaper on the very same day,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The Star's effort was one up on its rival New Straits Times,
\nalthough it also presented extensive coverage of Anwar's release.<\/p>\n
Editions of two leading Malay-language newspapers, Berita
\nHarian and Utusan Malaysia, disappeared from almost all
\nnewsstands as early as 6 a.m. on Friday. The combined circulation
\nof the newspapers reaches more than 600,000 copies.<\/p>\n
Hassan Abdullah, owner of a newsstand in Bukit Bintang, one of
\nthe busiest districts in the city, said that all types of
\nnewspapers in Malay, Mandarin, English and Tamil were all sold
\nout early in the morning.<\/p>\n
\"It is rare ... we usually find it difficult to sell
\nnewspapers. We still have piles of newspapers until late at
\nnight, but today (Friday), they (the copies) were all gone,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, hundreds of Anwar's supporters as well as local and
\ninternational journalists converged on his residence to see him
\nbefore his departure for Munich, Germany, on Saturday afternoon
\nfor medical treatment.<\/p>",
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