AsianWeek is just the latest in a string of Asian-American media closures, including KQED’s Pacific Time, AZN Television, and the San Jose Mercury News’ Vietnamese-language supplement Viet Mercury. While most cities have trouble supporting one daily newspaper, he said, San Francisco has five Chinese-language dailies, offering not only local and national news, but a dozen pages of international coverage of news from Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia.  But just as the mainstream media are being hobbled by declining readership and revenue, hastened by a faltering economy and growth of online media, their ethnic media counterparts are being squeezed too. “There are fewer major newspapers, fewer newspaper readers and fewer newspaper advertisers than ever before,” wrote AsianWeek President
James Fang, and Ted Fang, editor and publisher, in a letter to readers published in the newspaper. In the last few months, a handful of ethnic publications has gone the way of AsianWeek, scrapping paper editions and going online, reaching out to readers for help or pulling the plug completely.
Ted Fang said AsianWeek would continue publishing online and in special newspaper editions. He said, however, that all staff had been laid off. Fang said AsianWeek plans to do more community work, which Fang counted among the newspaper’s greatest “successes.” “Media is a part of bringing together APA communities,” he said. “We plan to organize around events… around issues and causes as a way of helping the community.”

The campaign, which promotes ideal scenarios under the slogan “In an Absolut World,” showed a 1830s-era map when Mexico included California, Texas and other southwestern states. Mexico still resents losing that territory in the 1848 Mexican-American War and the fight for Texas independence.

But the ads, which ran only in Mexico and have since ended, were less than ideal for Americans undergoing a border buildup and embroiled in an emotional debate over illegal immigration from their southern neighbor. .. Absolut said the ad was designed for a Mexican audience and intended to recall “a time which the population of Mexico might feel was more ideal.”

“As a global company, we recognize that people in different parts of the world may lend different perspectives or interpret our ads in a different way than was intended in that market, and for that we apologize.” Vin & Sprit, Absolut’s Sweden-based parent company, will be acquired by French spirit maker Pernod Ricard SA under a deal reached last week.

Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com on Sunday after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the popular U.S. video Web site. The blocking added to the communist government’s efforts to control what the public saw and heard about protests that erupted Friday in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, against Chinese rule.

Access to YouTube.com, usually readily available in China, was blocked after videos appeared on the site Saturday showing foreign news reports about the Lhasa demonstrations, montages of photos and scenes from Tibet-related protests abroad. There were no protest scenes posted on China-based video Web sites such as 56.com, youku.com and tudou.com. The Chinese government has not commented on its move to prevent access to YouTube. Internet users trying to call up the Web site were presented with a blank screen.

The ricochet effect from the Hollywood writers strike might be more far-reaching and long-lasting than first thought. So says an influential Los Angeles economist in his annual “Economic Forecast Report” for Los Angeles County and its surrounding areas.

The work stoppage that started November 5 and was settled early this month already has cost the town an estimated $2.5 billion, according to Jack Kyser, the chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. The figure includes lost wages from TV shows that were canceled and films that were put on hold as well as a plethora of support services, ranging from limo drivers to florists. Kyser suggested that the cancellation of the Golden Globes resulted in a $60 million shortfall for the community.

In its most drastic measure ever against Hollywood, Chinese authorities have banned the release of American pics for at least three months. Ban began Saturday and will continue until the end of February at least, but Chinese sources say it could continue until May.

Central-government order came from echelons higher up than the State Administration for Film Radio and Television or the Film Bureau, which normally handle movie industry policy and application. Ruling likely emanated within the Propaganda Ministry. The Asian and Chinese arms of the studios have not been given any release slots in the first two months of 2008.

U.S. studio distribution execs had no comment, but speculation is that the ban will last until after the Chinese New Year celebration in early February. Key factors in the decision are said to be disagreements with U.S. trade policy and the recent success of American pics at the expense of local films.

Distribs have noted privately that the Chinese government often changes the blackout periods on a whim. Normally, the majors would by now have had approval for films that qualify under the quota system, which permits 20 foreign films per year to be released on a revenue-sharing basis. They also report that the Film Bureau’s censorship committee is not even interested in screening their movies.

Four films that would normally have expected to be cleared for release in January or February have been locked out: Disney’s “Enchanted,” DreamWorks’ “Bee Movie,” Paramount’s “Stardust” and Warner’s “Beowulf.”

The case involved Shi Tao who was jailed for allegedly providing state secrets to foreigners after he sent an e-mail that contained notes about government media restrictions, and Wang Xiaoning who was arrested in 2002 in connection with anonymous e-mails and other political writings he posted online. Both journalists were arrested after Yahoo turned over information about their online activities and both were given harsh 10 year prison terms. Family members of Shi and Wang in April sued Yahoo and the Chinese company Alibaba.com, which took over Yahoo’s mainland China operations in 2005.

In a dramatic moment during the hearing, Yahoo Chief executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahaner were prompted to apologize to Shi’s mother, who was sitting behind them, and both turned to her and bowed deeply. “After meeting with the families, it was clear to me what we had to do to make this right for them, for Yahoo and for the future,” Yang said later in a statement. “We are committed to making sure our actions match our values around the world.” Yang also said the company also was establishing a “human rights fund to provide humanitarian and legal aid to dissidents who have been imprisoned for expressing their views online.”

Let’s hope that is sincere- it sounds like it is. Yahoo was born here in California- and while we wish them great success in all their foreign ventures, we hope they don’t forget that they are an American company Now it is up to the Chinese authorities to release Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning, and anyone else who has been jailed on such ridiculous charges. This will be a thorn in U.S. China relations, and an unnecessary one that alienates the very people likely to be most friendly towards China.

Note how huge the fire area is- it is amazing there hasn’t been even more destruction.

Thanks KPBS – even though you have been silenced by the fire, you have come up with something useful.

UPDATE: They are now broadcasting on FM 94.9 (KBZT-FM), which volunteered to air KPBS radio’s news programming in place of its usual musical lineup

NOTE: Thanks to Google also- but couldn’t we do better than this? I think we should have a really good map that really lets you get down to what is happening where.