Editor For my first story at the Vladivostok News, I walked out across the frozen harbor and interviewed ice fishermen. They were a strange breed, men (mostly) who drilled holes in the ice, dropped in a line, and sat on their tackle boxes with their backs to the wind waiting for a bite from a fish the length of a ruler. Viewed from a field of ice, Vladivostok was an astonishing city. I was, I thought, the luckiest newsman on earth. I still think so despite the death of our newspaper’s print edition. Since April 1993, we have covered an array of stories – weird politics, car bombings, mafia hits, businesses that succeed against tremendous odds. And now that the stories from Russia are really heating up, the Vladivostok News will no longer publish on paper. This is our last paper edition for the foreseeable future: The ruble crisis has killed off the print edition of the Far East’s only English-language newspaper. Some of us plan to continue producing a scaled-back Web edition. We will still work out of our office at 13 Narodny Prospect. But for the time being, it seems, we will enter that ghostly world of Internet-only publications, the kind of newspaper that doesn’t get ink on your fingers. Thus we will lose two important parts of our readership – expatriates and Russians here in Vladivostok. And having a readership that is mostly overseas will shape the kinds of stories we cover. We have sought alternatives to ending the print edition, and we still hope to someday find a way our stories may reach readers here in Vladivostok. Also, others, inspired by some ideas we shopped around, plan to start a new paper elsewhere in the Far East. There’s a chance one or two members of our staff will take part in that effort, and we wish them luck. I feel privileged to be a part of the Vladivostok News. Yes, I often squirmed at the goofs and typos that crept into the paper — some of our photo captions have been priceless (our layout artist left them on the page from previous issues, and a certain doltish editor occasionally overlooked them). But I am proud to be part of a team that has produced first-rate journalism. We have been able to recruit a highly talented staff – both Russians and foreigners – while paying wages that are minuscule by American standards. The same reporters working for our tiny paper were also freelancing for some of the world’s largest and most influential news organizations: the Associated Press, Reuters, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and many others. I doubt there is a small paper in the world that can claim the credentials of our journalists over the years. Perhaps most of all, I feel grateful to our readers. Sometimes the paper was hard to find in the hotels and kiosks where we distribute. Sometimes, at least in the past, our publication schedule was inconsistent. But we knew we were reaching an audience – English teachers and expatriates, visiting businessmen and Vladivostok entrepreneurs – who were hungry for news from this region. Still interested in what’s going on here? Check out our Web site at http://vlad.tribnet.com or http://vn.vladnews.ru. Otherwise, we will miss you.
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