AsianWeek

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 11:44pm on Monday, January 5th, 2009

On January 1, 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that AsianWeek was to cease print publication on Friday, January 2, 2009:

"AsianWeek, an influential force politically and culturally for San Francisco Asian Americans for 30 years, will publish its final print edition on Friday, another victim in the shrinking newspaper industry.

AsianWeek will continue to publish online, at www.asianweek.com, and produce special editions about Asian American business, professional development, heritage and other issues and will still host events, but the print edition is going away because of economic realities, Ted Fang, editor and publisher, said in an interview Wednesday.

"It was very tough," Fang said of the decision to shut down the presses. However, he said he believes the printed newspaper is but one of several means of communicating and noted the increasing adaptation to digital formats, particularly by Asian Americans.

Fang said that nearly all of the 11 AsianWeek employees in San Francisco will be let go.

"There are fewer major newspapers, fewer newspaper readers and fewer newspaper advertisers than ever before," Fang and his brother, James Fang, the president of the company, write in a letter to readers published in Friday's final edition. "A faltering economy has accelerated the decline," they write.

AsianWeek was founded by the Fangs' father, John Fang, in 1979, and over the years was a powerful player in San Francisco politics by endorsing candidates and ballot issues and empowering community members, said David Lee, executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee."