James and Ted Fang sent an email to their readers today, announcing that AsianWeek is going to cease regular publication immediately. The last issue is coming out on Friday, January 2, 2009:
“To Our Readers:
AsianWeek has played a long and significant role in helping develop
Asian Pacific America, from publishing the first 1980 U.S. Census data
on Asian and Pacific Islanders Americans, to co-publishing the most
comprehensive textbook analyzing 2000 Census data with UCLA.
AsianWeek has also changed itself to keep up with the rapidly evolving Asian American community. This includes the re-launching of
AsianWeek.com as the largest Asian American news site, using the
newest delivery tools for electronic media. We also have worked to
bring together the increasingly diverse segments of the Asian Pacific
American community, organizing events like the Asian Heritage Street
Celebration and community-wide campaigns like the San Francisco Hep BFree initiative. Our news focus has shifted in turn, to reflect the growing focus of Asian Pacific Americans on their own career,
professional and business development. We are also producing more
special newspaper sections around issues as diverse as heritage,
health issues and car reviews.
The economy and the news business have experienced their own changes.There are fewer major newspapers, fewer newspaper readers and fewer newspaper advertisers than ever before. A faltering economy has accelerated the decline. Meanwhile, Asian Pacific Americans have led the way in the digital revolution migrating away from print media and into receiving their news and information electronically.
To reflect these changing times, AsianWeek will cease regular
newspaper publication immediately. We will continue to publish on-line and in special newspaper editions. Electronic versions of AsianWeek articles will be available free via email. We will also be more active than ever in the community, helping Asian Pacific America to grow, evolve and reach its full potential. We appreciate the support the community has given us over the last three decades and look forward to giving back to the community for many decades to come.
James Fang
Ted Fang
President
Editor and Publisher”
AsianWeek was an institution particularly when I was in college and began to take interest in Asian America and our community. It was a staple for the generation that grew up on identity politics and saw the complete transition away from the identity politics that were so well reprsented by our spoken word collectives, and towards a global and post-racial climate. AsianWeek made the transition in changing times and set the example that Asian America was more than binaries. Fortunatly, AsianWeek will still publish special issues and remain an online presence.
[...] paper is no more, according to AngryAsianMan and the Celadon Review. Another victim of this. They’ll still be online, but the print edition will be gone [...]
This sort of thing has been a subject of great interest for both many cities and the many newspapers that are mainstream as well as community-centered.
In Minnesota, the long-running weekly Asian American Press has gone many months without a print edition, although it continues to print online, but the Hmong newspapers have continued to successfully publish themselves, even as a more mainstream monthly magazine like the Rake has folded.
I expect 2009 to become a particularly defining year for many journals attempting to offer news content for Asian American interests. We may lose several older papers, but I suspect we will also see several attempt to fill in the gaps in some locales.
Hi Bryan. Welcome to the blog. That’s a real shame about the Asian American Press. But as you say the silver lining may be the advent of a new wave of Asian American periodicals. One of the reasons my colleagues and I started this journal is because of what we perceived to be a lack of awareness of the contemporary Asian American art scene.
Anyway, welcome again and take care.