VarietyAsiaOnline.com, a leading English-language source of news on the Asian film industry has announced today the indefinite suspension of their web site. The site’s main operators, Asia editor Patrick Frater and Hong Kong correspondent and web editor Marcus Lim have been let go by Variety, effective today. This means that the Kaiju Shakedown film blog, along with its writer Grady Hendrix have also been canned.
In a final news post, Frater cites tight times in global news media as the reason for the site’s closure. Variety Asia Online had been in operation for two and a half years, reporting on entertainment news coming out of China and surrounding territories. They had acquired 15,000 subscribers in that time.
I personally used Variety Asia Online as a trusted news source for my reporting on Kung Fu Cinema and their absence on the internet will be sorely missed. They filled an important role in being the mainstream Asian film news source to compliment all of the guerilla reporting and blogging that the rest of the independent Asian film-related sites provide.
It’s troubling to see anyone lose their job, especially during this time of economic trouble. It’s also troubling to see one window on the growing Asian film and entertainment industry close down. China especially is going to have a major impact on the world stage this century and we need all the sharing of culture and information that we can get. While Variety may be taking necessary steps to ride out the recession it’s unfortunate that their Asian coverage, along with the individuals working to deliver it to us, must fall victim at a time when evolving business between China and Hollywood is just getting started.
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