Far Eastern Economic Review to close
Posted by Emma Heald on September 22, 2009 at 4:07 PM
The Far Eastern Economic Review is to close, it was widely reported. Described by Reuters as "one of Asia's leading print publications," the 63-year-old Hong Kong-based magazine run by Dow Jones will close in December. Subscribers will be offered one-year subscriptions to the Asian Wall Street Journal website.
"The decision to cease publication of the Review is a difficult one made after a careful study of the magazine's prospects in a challenging business climate," said Todd Larsen, chief operating officer at Dow Jones Consumer Media Group. PaidContent quoted DJ spokesman Robert Christie who said that the publication was just losing too much money for its 200,000 circulation.
"The decision to cease publication of the Review is a difficult one made after a careful study of the magazine's prospects in a challenging business climate," said Todd Larsen, chief operating officer at Dow Jones Consumer Media Group. PaidContent quoted DJ spokesman Robert Christie who said that the publication was just losing too much money for its 200,000 circulation.
The company will redirect resources to its other news outlets in Asia, according to the Wall Street Journal: to the WSJ's Chinese language site, a planned Japanese language site and new mobile services.
The weekly magazine has been suffering for some years. It became a monthly in 2004, when it lost 80 of its employees, leaving only the editor and six staff. They are being offered jobs elsewhere in the company, paidContent reported. A competitor, Asiaweek, was closed by owner Time Warner Inc in 2001.
"It's paradoxical that as the region becomes more and more important, there are fewer and fewer publications producing quality coverage," said Hugo Restall, FEER's current editor to Reuters.
FEER is currently involved in a legal battle with the Singapore government, having appealed a verdict that ruled it had defamed elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew and his son, incumbent Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, according to Reuters. It is unclear whether the suit will now be dropped.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, paidContent
The weekly magazine has been suffering for some years. It became a monthly in 2004, when it lost 80 of its employees, leaving only the editor and six staff. They are being offered jobs elsewhere in the company, paidContent reported. A competitor, Asiaweek, was closed by owner Time Warner Inc in 2001.
"It's paradoxical that as the region becomes more and more important, there are fewer and fewer publications producing quality coverage," said Hugo Restall, FEER's current editor to Reuters.
FEER is currently involved in a legal battle with the Singapore government, having appealed a verdict that ruled it had defamed elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew and his son, incumbent Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, according to Reuters. It is unclear whether the suit will now be dropped.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, paidContent
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