Professor Funabiki: Nichi Bei Weekly Reinvented as Cultural Institution

NEW AMERICA MEDIA -- Journalism Professor Jon Funabiki writes a commentary on Nichi Bei Weekly, a revived newspaper serving the Bay Area’s Japanese community. “Since 2009, the level of activity has been almost manic,” writes Funabiki, who also is founder and executive director of the Renaissance Journalism Center. “The group created the nonprofit Nichi Bei Foundation with a formal board of directors. If not the first, it is one of the first, ethnic newspapers to attempt a conversion to nonprofit status, which enables it to solicit grants and contributions. While continuing the print edition, the foundation has launched a website and a new digital edition, which it hopes will appeal to younger, on-the-go readers.”