Newspapers in Asia: A Positive Story

PAL PILLAI / AFP / Getty Images

An Indian man reads a newspaper giving front page coverage on the swearing in of US-President Barack Obama in Mumbai on January 21, 2009

There's a motorcycle-taxi stand near my home in Bangkok, and many of the drivers' hands are dirty. Not from urban grime or motor oil, but from newsprint. Fueled by a growing literacy rate and press reforms in some parts of the continent, Asia is enjoying what may be the world's last great newspaper boom. Eight of the world's 10 biggest paid-for daily newspapers are printed in Asia, according to the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). The largest national newspaper markets? China, India and Japan. (The U.S. is a distant fourth.)

Even as Europeans and North Americans abandon their...

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