Writers Walk
An expat publishing icon
- Details
- Written by Scott Murray
Few people have had more of an impact on the Bangkok publishing world over the past few decades than Gregers Moller and his company Scand-Media. And CanCham Thailand is lucky to have him as the publisher for our quarterly magazine Voyageur and our annual directory.
The American T-AB, British Link, the Netherlands’ Commerce, the Australian Advance, the British Club’s Outlook, the Italian Informa, the FCCT’s Dateline Bangkok and the Thai Nordic Association’s Bulletin were all some of the prominent magazines that Gregers Moller published in close cooperation with the owners of the publications before the digital revolution.
“The most exciting part,” says Gregers, “was to work with top people of the various foreign communities like Sam Cohen and Don Lavoie, Judy Benn, Greg Watkins, Dominic Faulder, Tom Sorensen, Michele Tomea and so many more!”
Born and raised just outside Copenhagen, Gregers' dad was an officer in the Danish Army while his mom was a concert pianist. Gregers, his mom. and two sisters spent three years in Germany and a year in Cyprus where Gregers father was stationed as a NATO officer. That's where he saw real poverty for the first time, in a Europe rebuilding after World War II, and experienced real resentment as people would spit at his feet, being the son of a NATO officer, the son of an occupying force.
Growing up, Gregers aspired to be a veterinarian or a forest ranger. He attended Herlufsholm, the Eton of Denmark, graduating in 1972, after which he did a year at an agricultural college, and then his military duty for one year before enrolling at the University of Copenhagen to study comparative religion.
Not feeling satisfied, he went back to work in the forest, at the Danish royal castle of Fredensborg cutting wood, taking care of flower beds, etc. He even played "bows and arrows" with the Danish princes Frederik and Joachim under the condition that he wouldn’t tell their mum, Queen Margrethe II.
In time, Gregers came across an occupational advisor; previously, he had never received any career advice - his parents didn't want to pressure him, they thought he should find his own way. The advisor told Gregers about the Danish school of journalism. As Gregers had a passion for writing, he contacted them and they told him to bring his typewriter and come in for an interview.
He was accepted and enrolled in a 4 &1/2-year course at Denmark's only journalism school, today called the Media School of Denmark, which included a year-and-a-half of practical training.
After graduating, Gregers found a job as a replacement editor for one of the smaller Copenhagen papers. He then went on to work for several trade press magazines from 1980-88. This included being appointed by the Trade Press Association to represent them at the management board of the Danish Media School, where he helped screen prospective young journalists.
His time with the trade press taught him to be accurate, to pay attention to detail, to be sympathetic to the victims he interviewed, and to be fair. He understood the consequences of journalism, that his words could have real consequences for real people in real life - “you need to be aware of the power of journalism and be humbled by it. You have a duty to your readers,” he says.
Gregers first wife was a stewardess for Thai Airways whom he met because she couldn't find her way around Copenhagen. She was looking for Danish castles to visit and since Gregers lived at a castle...well, the rest is history. They were married in 1982 and had two daughters born in Denmark one in 1983, Nina Jagota and one in 1988 Monica Sitapan Moller.
Around this time, Gregers started getting restless working for the trade press so he approached the Berlingske Tidende, Denmark's main newspaper, about being their Asia Correspondent, and they agreed, basing him in Bangkok in 1988. Half a year later, the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing happened and Gregers covered this, quickly making a name for himself.
As part of the job, Gregers started working on a project with the Thai production house Grammy and before he knew of it his wife Sansanee Sitapan got involved with the company too, running the foreign division of the Grammy TV program called Dam Bai Do. This job catapulted her into the limelight of the Thai public and for several years she was well known as the anchorwoman doing the international programs of Darm Bai Do.
The backside of her popularity was that, as they both pursued their private careers, the marriage faltered.
Realizing that he was probably going to be living in Thailand for the rest of his life, Gregers set up Scand-Media, his publication company in 1994. The first magazine was his own monthly Scandasia, which covered Southeast Asia for Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic interests. Christer Nilsson - also a long time Swedish resident correspondent in Bangkok - was the co-editor.
The Thai-Swedish Chamber of Commerce then approached Gregers about taking over their publication, which was called STEP at the time. He agreed and employed a Swedish salesman, Max Falk to sell the advertisements. This opened up the niche of publishing other people’s magazines and soon his early partners were the Chambers of Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Finland - and Canada.
As for CanCham, it was Suzanne Thibault, then the Executive Director of CanCham Thailand, who in 2001 approached Gregers and asked if he would be the publisher of Voyageur.
Gregers explains the model and purpose of Chamber magazines: "Help us with the content; then sit back and relax, and you get a magazine for free. Chamber magazines are useful as they enhance the members’ satisfaction with their membership, confirm their belonging and keep them informed on what matters most to them in their community."
Before the digital revolution set in, Scand-Media had 25 employees and published the magazines for the British, Australian, American, Canadian, South Korean, South African, Hong Kong & the Italian chamber as well as the annual directories of all these partners - including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Gregers other ventures included taking over Jim Fowler's business, which included the British Club's magazine Outlook (the British Club now publishes this magazine in-house).
Gregers also published Dateline Bangkok, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand magazine for a number of years.
Today, the company still publishes ScandAsia, the Italian Informa and the Canadian Voyageur plus BAMBI News, an English language magazine for international mothers with young children living in Bangkok,
Scand-Media has a number of long-term employees including fellow Dane and salesman Finn Balslev, who has been with the company since 1996. Gregers and Finn lived in a small town Fredericia in Denmark, for some years but never met before coming to Thailand.
Another long-term employee is Patcharee West. She joined around the same time and is today the company's marketing director for commercial printing, bringing in high-end clients such as UNDP, Patana International School and other international organizations.
Scand-Media bought the building on Prasert Manukitch 29 where it is now located in 2011 having moved a bit around during the early growth years. The company was started in a little office behind the kitchen in Gregers’ private home in Lat Phrao Soi 41 - which invariably was flooded every time there had been a heavy downpour.
Disraporn “Dao” Yatprom, who does the layout for Voyageur, is Gregers second wife. She started working for Scand-Media in 2001 and her forte is maintaining a uniform style through the publications she designs.
Gregers father and mother were naturists and so the whole family including Gregers’ two sisters grew up in that lifestyle. On a trip to Denmark in 2006, he took Dao to a naturist camp. Intrigued, she told Gregers that he should set up a naturist society in Thailand. After thoroughly checking out the legality they did set up the Naturist Association Thailand together in 2007. The couple worked with other naturist resorts before in 2015 setting up their own: the Barefeet Naturist Resort, not far from their publishing office. Today, the group consists of seven naturist resorts in different parts of the Kingdom.
If you have any questions about Scand-Media or the Naturist Association Thailand, please contact Gregers at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..