Asian Lite, a new monthly title being launched by a team including the former editor of the Asian Leader, is launching on 1 June 2007.
The 32 page full colour monthly title will have a cover price of 70p but it will initially be distributed free for the first six months, to over 20,000 Asian professionals across the UK according to the publisher.
The editorial office is situated in Manchester, with production being run out of Rochdale and printing across in Leeds.
Editor and publisher, Anasudhin Azeez, previously edited the Johnston Press owned leading title Asian Leader. The Asian Leader is a free fortnightly circulated to over 25,000 people.
Azeez believes his title, which has been privately funded including bank debt, will succeed because there are no other quality Asian titles in the UK.
Azeez
“Check any newspaper.” said Azeez. “Even newspapers from the big media stables like Guardian (Asian News) and Johnston Press (Asian Leader) are dominated with stories like violence, drugs, racial discrimination, illegal immigration, forced marriages and gun crime. These are only a slice of the spectrum. Asians are really doing well in some of the major sectors in the British economy. Asian owned businesses in the UK have a turnover of about £60 billion a year, while real Asian wealth increased by 69 per cent between 1998 and 2005, compared with the UK's GDP, which was up just 23 per cent.
“The new generations are doing well academically. There are more professionals in the Indian community than other segment of the British society. But even in the post Big Brother era, they are still largely synonymous with curry and Shilpa.”
He added that the publication’s links with professional associations will “prove to be our backbone.” Thirty plus professional associations across the UK have signed up as distribution partners for the venture.
Azeez has lined some of the ‘big names’ in the Asian media industry as writers including Bikram Vohra (managing editor of Bahrian Tribune and a former editor of Indian Express) and Rahul Singh (former editor of the Asian edition of Reader's Digest).
They have also persuaded the Indian Cabinet Minister for Expat Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, to write a column. Other columnists include Asian model Sadia Siddiqui, former Manchester mayor Afzal Khan and Sajjad Karim MEP.
Prior to editing the Asian Leader, Azeez was news editor with Khaleej Times in Dubai and subsequently a special correspondent for the paper in London. He has also worked on the Gulf Today in Sharjah and the Indian Express.
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