US: Asian-American coverage shrinking

Posted by Lauren Drablier on January 6, 2009 at 2:33 PM

San Francisco's AsianWeek newspaper announced that it will no longer continue its print edition as of January 2, 2009. According to New America Media, in a city that one-third of the population is Asian, it leaves a gaping hole in English-language Asian-American coverage.

Janice Lee, deputy executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association, believes that "as newspapers become thinner, readers may not notice how the staff cuts are affecting coverage, but community organizations that monitor Asian-American issues will be the first to feel the impact."

Even though San Francisco still has five Chinese-language dailies, Ling-chi Wang, professor emeritus of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, believes that "the problem with foreign-language media is mainstream media doesn't read it, has no access to it. The disadvantage is those voices do not enter into the mainstream dialogue," and it shuts out those Asian-Americans who only speak English.

There has been talk of continuing AsiaWeek as an online publication, which would attract a younger generation of Asian-Americans.

The end of AsiaWeek highlights what is taking place in the newspaper industry now that publications are being forced to decide where to cut costs. They are being forced to cut back coverage, staff and content, which ultimately impacts their readers.

Source: New America Media