By Benny Evangelista
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, September 20, 2009

A group of community leaders and journalists did something seemingly unusual last week – they started a newspaper, the Nichi Bei Weekly.

But while its introduction comes as economic pressures are forcing publications to scale down or close, it also comes at a time when the audience for ethnic media is bigger than ever.

According to a study earlier this year by New America Media, a San Francisco group that represents 2,000 ethnic news organizations around the country, readership in this sector increased by 16 percent over the last four years.

Still, it won’t be easy. Despite an increasing readership, the ethnic press hasn’t escaped the same downturn in advertising that has hurt mainstream publications.

The fledgling Weekly, in fact, was born out of the demise of the Nichi Bei Times, Northern California’s oldest Japanese American paper.

Read the full San Francisco Chronicle story, here.