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Compared to Los Angeles Times and New York Times, Chinese Newspaper Thrives Better in Recession

Compared to Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, The leading Chinese Newspaper, World Journal (also known as Chinese Daily News) thrives better in recession, partially helped by the economies of Taiwan and China, as well as the relative less reliance on Internet media of Chinese speaking population in the United States.

by Samuel Chong
November 20, 2009

Los Angeles, California.: From the a few pages of classified advertisement of Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, it seems major newspapers in the United States (except for Wall Street Jounral) have been suffering, caused by the economic downturn as well as Internet media.  However, World Journal, also known as Chinese Daily News, the leading Chinese language newspaper in the United States, has been thriving, partially helped by the economies of Taiwan and China, as well as the relative less reliance on Internet media of Chinese speaking population in the United States.

"In the early 1990's, it cost a few thousand dollars to place a small classified advertisement on Los Angeles Times for a week.  Now, I don't see many people placing classified ads on LA Times or New York Times anymore," says Jenny Park, president of LA Institute of Translation and Interpretation.  "Now, we just use craigslist to do the same thing".

It is the case for Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, however, when you flip through classified ad section of World Journal, also know as Chinese Daily News, you will see pages and pages of classified advertisements in Chinese language on this leading Chinese language newspaper in the United States.

World Journal, also know as Chinese Daily News, is the largest Chinese newspaper in the United States, having the largest circulation in major cities in the US where there is a large Chinese speaking population (saving for San Francisco, where Sing Tao is the largest Chinese newspaper, serving mainly the Cantonese speaking population there).

Indeed, it has been partially helped by the Taiwanese and Chinese economy, in which local Chinese businesses sometimes try to lure the consumers from Taiwan and China.  Taiwan, a place known for rich people and high tech companies, is where the parent company of World Journal (Chinese Daily News) headquartered.  China, on the other hand, was just reported to have the third largest number of millionaires in the world, after the United States and Japan.  People in Taiwan and China speak Mandarin.  World Journal (Chinese Daily News) mainly caters to the Mandarin speaking population in the United States.

"Indeed, we have seen many real estate agents and professional business people to advertise on World Journal (Chinese Daily News), to try to businesses from Chinese speaking customers in the United States", says Sally An, a representative of Chinese Advertising Agencies Inc., a Los Angeles based Chinese advertising agency that also provides information about Chinese media in the United States and Canada. "A lot of them get very excited at hearing that the Chinese are coming to purchase real estate properties in groups".  She refers to one of their services, Advertising in Chinese Language for Real Estate Firms.

"I think it is also because that a lot of Chinese speaking people still rely on Chinese newspapers as their main source of information." says Sunny Zheng, a USC graduate currently working as a Chinese translator in Los Angeles.  "Unlike the English speaking population in Los Angeles and New York, in which the majority of them know to find information on craigslist, most Chinese speaking people do not know craigslist, as there is no Chinese equivalent yet.  It is also because typing Chinese characters is relatively more difficult and slower as well."

Mr. James Guo, the publisher of Chinese Daily News (World Journal) in Los Angeles, seems to believe, using the title of a book by Andrew S. Grove, that only the paranoid survive.  In a television interview he gave early last year, he spoke about trying to adapt Chinese Daily News (World Journal) into the new Internet environment.  Mid this year, Chinese Daily News (World Journal) changed the design of its website, trying to turn it into a multimedia newspaper.

"How to Chinese Daily News (World Journal) into the mainstream US society is a challenge for them.  We are positioned to help them" Says Sally An, the representative of Chinese Advertising Agencies Inc. "When non Chinese speaking people ask us what the largest Chinese newspaper is, we tell them the truth, and we introduce them to the sales representatives o the newspaper".

Will Chinese Daily News (World Journal) survive at the end?  Several other foreign language newspaper in the United States have not been able to survive as there were less and less speakers of the languages of the newspapers (over the years, most of the children or the children of the children of the early immigrants began to speak English only).  We will have to wait and see.  "At the end, China and Taiwan are the most populous places in the world.  And they are coming to the United States.  The trend will not stop at least for another a few decades"  Sally An says.

This article can also be found at http://www.certifiedchinesetranslation.com/09/1120-Los-Angeles-Times-New-York-Times-Chinese-Newspaper.html