I have always had a lot of interest in issues related to Asia. Perhaps it is because I have spend most of my travel time in the Asian region. One of my main sources of news about Asia is the Far Eastern Economic Review. I have been reading FEER since 1989 and has been a subscriber since then except for 2 years.
In November I received an e-mail from the publisher saying that the weekly FEER will cease publication. A magazine which has been published for 58 years and have been fearless in reports of corruption and despotic regimes will be closed. I was shocked and dismayed.
The e-mail mentioned FEER will be relaunched in a journal format published once a month. It will be published in Beijing instead of Hong Kong. Today I received the first copy of the "new" FEER.
Well after flipping through the articles, I can't say I am that impressed with the new FEER. There seems to be less bite in the articles. The contributors are sourced from various academic institutions, think tanks or well known Asian thinkers. Previous FEER staff who have first hand and "street knowledge" about Asia does not make any contribution in this FEER. They were all fired in December 2004 by Dow Jones, the publisher.
I will keep receiving the "new" FEER until the value of my previous weekly FEER is utilised. In the coming months, I will have to judge if it's worth subscribing to this FEER.
I wonder if this new FEER will publish articles critical of the Chinese government. I' ll doubt if they would although it is stated on page 3 : " .... continue to offer independent reporting and analysis of Asia...." .
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