rss feedNichi Bei Times of California to stop publishing, hopes nonprofit status will help
Nichi Bei Times, which launched after World War II to help “reconnect” Japanese Americans returning from internment camps, will publish its final edition Sept. 10, the company announced this week.
The 63-year-old newspaper has been suffering years of advertising and circulation losses, the company said.
But some Nichi Bei Times staff members and Asian American community leaders hope the formation of the nonprofit Nichi Bei Foundation will enable them to receive grants and donations to continue the newspaper.
If the publication ceases, it would mean the loss of Northern California’s oldest Japanese American newspaper. It reportedly has about 8,000 subscribers.
The newspaper has covered a variety of issues including redress for the internment, immigration, Japantowns and better U.S.-Japan ties.
Its goal was “to be the glue that holds the community together – culturally, historically, socially, emotionally, spiritually and politically,” according to the history section on the newspaper’s Web site.
The decision to end the newspaper ”was not taken lightly,” the board of directors said in a letter to readers.
In addition to the newspaper losing money, the board explained: “We felt the traditional bilingual daily did not serve today’s Japanese American community.”
In an online opinion piece, Kenji G. Taguma, foundation president and the newspaper’s English Edition Editor, put the closure in the context of the recession and mainstream media outlets facing their own advertising losses:
At this time, when community organizations are being hit hard by funding issues, and mainstream newspapers are cutting down on coverage of communities of color, the community may need us now more than ever.
The newspaper, led by key founder Shichinosuke Asano, launched on May 18, 1946. It followed the legacy of the Nichi Bei Shimbun, which started in 1899.
Kunisaku Mineta, the father of former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, once served as a reporter for the newspaper and covered San Jose. Norman Mineta, a former San Jose mayor, also delivered the Nichi Bei newspaper, the company said.
In March, the newspaper sponsored a Northern California Tofu Dessert Competition and Festival. It featured five finalists, including one person who made green tea souffle topped creme brule tofu cupcakes.
Declining advertising dollars this year have roiled the U.S. newspaper industry, including ethnic publications.
In January, San Francisco-based AsianWeek, another newspaper serving the Asian American community, stopped publishing. It maintains a Web site.
Read the San Francisco Chronicle’s coverage of the Nichi Bei Times here.
