Asia, with its economy roaring, has seen a flurry of new publications arrive on the scene. The emergence within the past year of three — Asia Sentinel, Review Asia, and Asia Weekly — comes at a time when many longstanding magazines and newspapers in the United States and Europe are struggling for survival as advertisers and readers look elsewhere.

The arrival of the new publications also marks a turnaround from a dramatic retrenchment of English-language publications in Asia just a few years ago. In 2004, Dow Jones turned its weekly Far Eastern Economic Review into a monthly opinion magazine.

These three new publications were started by journalists concerned by a lack of in-depth reporting on Asia and instances of censorship. “There is demand for regional news in Asia,” said Vivek Couto, executive director of Media Partners Asia, an independent media analysis group in Hong Kong. “Economies are in full swing and while the huge exponential growth has been in advertising budgets for regional satellite channels, the ad pie for print media has recovered, too.”

The success of these three new publications will depend on whether they can draw readers, advertisers and investors — three big, open questions. Their focus is Asia, but their format varies widely: Asia Sentinel is a news and analysis website, with no print edition; Review Asia is a glossy monthly magazine; and Asia Weekly is a print magazine, with a limited internet presence, a workmanlike design and few banner headlines.
Asia Weekly provides a weekly overview, condensing content from the region’s papers, websites and magazines for those who want one easily digestible package. Its publisher, Jasper Becker, a journalist and author covering China, realised “the crisis in regional media was actually an opportunity because there was a niche that had been left open”.

Becker estimated that circulation was about 20,000, with subscriptions accelerating. “We’re reflecting what we find in the Asian media, so we’re not replicating the Euro-centrism or US-centrism of the established media. It’s very hard work — but we can say: ‘This is what people are talking about this week’,” Becker said.

An almost opposite approach characterises www.asiasentinel.com — entirely internet-based, it produces only original journalism. The Review Asia office in Hong Kong is another world. Paintings and objets d’art, Buddhas, candles and plants suggest that the magazine is about lifestyle as much as politics and business.

Rex Aguado, its editor, combines a journalism background with experience in investment banking and equity research. His friends complained there was nothing to read as they travelled, made money and built homes.
“Our scenario is of people reading this on a plane, but also through the internet,” Aguado said.
Aggressive outsourcing is Aguado’s strategy. There are no staff writers, only freelancers; the printing — 30,000 copies a month — is outsourced, as is distribution and proof-reading.

IHT