Ethnic media was devastated by Covid. Now publishers are struggling to self-fund.
Soon after the coronavirus pandemic hit New York City, Bijay Poudel had to make one of the hardest decisions in his professional life: to stop the print
Soon after the coronavirus pandemic hit New York City, Bijay Poudel had to make one of the hardest decisions in his professional life: to stop the print publication of Vishwa Sandesh, a local Nepalese newspaper.
During the shutdown, advertisement revenue dried up, and the shops where the paper was normally distributed were now closed.
While the pandemic has dealt a blow to the entire journalism industry — more than 100 local newsrooms have closed since — it’s been especially tough on small, ethnic news outlets that may not have the resources to stay afloat. Of the four Nepalese newspapers in New York City — Vishwa Sandesh; Everest Times, a biweekly; Khasokhas, a weekly; and Nepalaya, a biweekly — all have been forced to close their print editions and turn entirely digital.
“Seeing only the digital version of the newspaper was painful to me,” Poudel, 48, publisher and editor-in-chief of the weekly paper, told NBC Asian America. “I can’t describe the feeling one gets when they hold a newspaper to read.”
Since its founding in 2007, Vishwa Sandesh, or “the world’s message” in English, grew in popularity for its on-the-ground coverage of the estimated 12,000 Nepalese living in New York City — a community largely ignored by the mainstream press. It also advocated for the community: In 2016, the paper became well-known for organizing a fundraiser for a Nepalese woman in the city named Prasha Tuladhar, who was waiting for a double lung transplant. (Despite a successful transplant, she died in 2019). During the pandemic, the paper has tried to connect readers to critical information through stories on why vaccination against Covid is necessary, and how undocumented residents can find medical help.
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