Eastern Eye isn’t the first title to face major economic problems at Ethnic Media Group. In fact, as long as the company has been around, it has gone through a myriad of niche publications targeting blacks and Asians. Many failed, others were sold off.

This handy list might offer some idea of how the industry has changed over the years.

India Weekly
Launched in 1964, India Weekly was among the longest running niche newspapers in the UK, publishing a mostly serious diet of news from India aimed at the elder first generation.

India Weekly was owned by Ashoka Publications, who sold it to EMG in 2003. Only the editor and some staff came over and EMG injected more entertainment content into its style.

But the market was rapidly shrinking and in 2005 it was folded into the Asian Times, another EMG publication, along with new mini-supplements that covered Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Asian Times
It was among EMG’s longest running publications, though without a distinct identity of its own. EMG had acquired it in 1997.

It was re-launched in 2005 with expanded mini-supplements offering news from the sub-continent, under the stewardship of Burhan Ahmed, and with added marketing, pagination and content.

But the newspaper still failed to take off and was eventually shut down in December 2006.

Occasions magazine
Another acquisition in 2003 along with India Weekly, Occasions was a long-ailing fashion magazine that had never really managed to compete effectively with Asian Woman, and later Asiana magazines.

In 2004 it was relaunched with a new editor, Sheri Kaur Mill, but failed to take off. It was closed down after a few years later.

The Voice / New Nation
In 2003, Ethnic Media Group also made a bid for The Voice newspaper, chief competitor to its own flagship black newspaper New Nation. At one point EMG managing director Wayne Bower told AIM magazine he was confident of acquiring the title, which has a illustrious history, but was eventually pipped to the post by Jamaica’s Gleaner Group.

New Nation remained EMG’s main newspaper targeting African and Caribbean households. And while it scored significant Pr victories through the ‘Black Power List’ and other initiatives under Michael Eboda, its circulation remained in decline.

By the time it went into administration last week, its weekly sales were down to 6,000 copies. The paper suffered from a lack of investment and by the time the new editor Lester Holloway. EMG’s administrators are still searching for a buyer for New Nation.

Diversity Today
A publication for senior executives in the public and private sector, Diversity Today was also launched in early 2003. But it lasted only a few months and ceased publication the same year.

Caribbean Times / African Times
Also published by EMG, African Times was axed at the end of 2003 and merged with another EMG puplication, Caribbean Times. However, it was aimed at first generation immigrants and couldn’t compete with The Voice or New Nation, EMG’s own flagship black newspaper. In 2005 Caribbean Times was also axed.

Untitled
In 2006 EMG was strongly rumoured to be launching a new newspaper in the East End. Industry insiders said it had much to do with the upcoming Olympics in 2006 and the Greater London Authority.
However, the new publication never saw the light of day.