STRAITS TIMES By Melissa Kok & Amanda Tan
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_617858.html
"Pressing home their away ties"
-- ST PHOTO: TED CHEN
BANGLADESHI A.K.M. Mohsin is a 'wanted' man in Little India.
Every Sunday, Bangladeshi foreign workers wait eagerly to hand over letters to him containing poems, stories and thoughts about their lives in Singapore and their families back home, which they hope will be printed in a newspaper, in Bengali, called Banglar Kantha, or the Voice of Bengal.
Mr Mohsin, 45, a Bangladeshi who is a Singapore permanent resident, is the chief editor and chief executive of the bi-monthly newspaper, which he set up in 2006 to cater to the 120,000-strong Bangladeshi community.
The 24-page paper, which costs $1.50 and is distributed to Bangladeshi shops and foreign worker dormitories, has a circulation of about 2,000.
'Singapore doesn't have any Bangladeshi publications so I wanted to make a contribution,' said Mr Mohsin.
Banglar Kantha is one of many community-based publications to have popped up in recent years catering to foreigners living and working here. It is believed there are not more than 100 such titles.
These publications keep foreigners up to date on news in their home countries and offer information about local events.
Most are published in the native tongues of the respective communities, but some are bilingual and offer stories in English.
Some like Japanese paper AsiaX are distributed free at bookstores, MRT stations and malls, while others can be bought for between $1.50 and $8 a copy. The more expensive ones, like the English-Russian quarterly 103rd Meridian East, which costs $8, count companies and organisations like the Singapore Tourism Board as advertisers.
Some are published by expatriate associations, such as the American Association of Singapore, which puts out Singapore American, a monthly newsletter. Their advertisers include international schools, restaurants and relocation specialists.
Others, like Banglar Kantha, are not-for-profit publications although they get some funding from advertisers.
tabla! - an English weekly by Singapore Press Holdings aimed at the Indian diaspora - is distributed free and accepts advertisements as well.
It has a circulation of about 30,000 and a readership of 100,000. It gets its revenue from businesses offering products and services catering mainly to the Indian community here, said its editor Pradeep Paul, 47.
Ms Julia Sherstyuk, 34, editor of 103rd Meridian East, said her paper 'helps many Russian newcomers get to know Singapore vicariously first'.
English-Tagalog magazine Pinoy Star, started in 2001, sets out to give Filipinos here, especially foreign domestic workers, a glimpse of life back home.
Readership of such publications has grown in tandem with the foreign population. Foreigners and permanent residents make up more than a third of Singapore's 5.1 million population.
AsiaX, printed in Japanese, is fully funded by advertisement revenue. It has grown from 20,000 copies a month in 2004 to 26,000 copies a month this year. It is published twice a month.
Swedish expatriate housewife Tina Eriksson Chong, 29, reads ScandAsia Singapore, a magazine for Scandinavian residents, that comes out once every two months. It is in English.
She said it gives her 'news on Scandinavians in Asia...and also makes me feel closer to home, especially when one of my fellow Swedes is featured'.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_617858.html
"Pressing home their away ties"
-- ST PHOTO: TED CHEN
BANGLADESHI A.K.M. Mohsin is a 'wanted' man in Little India.
Every Sunday, Bangladeshi foreign workers wait eagerly to hand over letters to him containing poems, stories and thoughts about their lives in Singapore and their families back home, which they hope will be printed in a newspaper, in Bengali, called Banglar Kantha, or the Voice of Bengal.
Mr Mohsin, 45, a Bangladeshi who is a Singapore permanent resident, is the chief editor and chief executive of the bi-monthly newspaper, which he set up in 2006 to cater to the 120,000-strong Bangladeshi community.
The 24-page paper, which costs $1.50 and is distributed to Bangladeshi shops and foreign worker dormitories, has a circulation of about 2,000.
'Singapore doesn't have any Bangladeshi publications so I wanted to make a contribution,' said Mr Mohsin.
Banglar Kantha is one of many community-based publications to have popped up in recent years catering to foreigners living and working here. It is believed there are not more than 100 such titles.
These publications keep foreigners up to date on news in their home countries and offer information about local events.
Most are published in the native tongues of the respective communities, but some are bilingual and offer stories in English.
Some like Japanese paper AsiaX are distributed free at bookstores, MRT stations and malls, while others can be bought for between $1.50 and $8 a copy. The more expensive ones, like the English-Russian quarterly 103rd Meridian East, which costs $8, count companies and organisations like the Singapore Tourism Board as advertisers.
Some are published by expatriate associations, such as the American Association of Singapore, which puts out Singapore American, a monthly newsletter. Their advertisers include international schools, restaurants and relocation specialists.
Others, like Banglar Kantha, are not-for-profit publications although they get some funding from advertisers.
tabla! - an English weekly by Singapore Press Holdings aimed at the Indian diaspora - is distributed free and accepts advertisements as well.
It has a circulation of about 30,000 and a readership of 100,000. It gets its revenue from businesses offering products and services catering mainly to the Indian community here, said its editor Pradeep Paul, 47.
Ms Julia Sherstyuk, 34, editor of 103rd Meridian East, said her paper 'helps many Russian newcomers get to know Singapore vicariously first'.
English-Tagalog magazine Pinoy Star, started in 2001, sets out to give Filipinos here, especially foreign domestic workers, a glimpse of life back home.
Readership of such publications has grown in tandem with the foreign population. Foreigners and permanent residents make up more than a third of Singapore's 5.1 million population.
AsiaX, printed in Japanese, is fully funded by advertisement revenue. It has grown from 20,000 copies a month in 2004 to 26,000 copies a month this year. It is published twice a month.
Swedish expatriate housewife Tina Eriksson Chong, 29, reads ScandAsia Singapore, a magazine for Scandinavian residents, that comes out once every two months. It is in English.
She said it gives her 'news on Scandinavians in Asia...and also makes me feel closer to home, especially when one of my fellow Swedes is featured'.
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