The vultures are circling

With the 800-pound gorilla Nguoi Viet newspaper considerably weakened, others in Orange County’s Little Saigon are scavenging the business Nguoi Viet left behind. The classified pages of its neighbor and fiercest competitor, Vien Dong, has witnessed an increase of at least 20% by the Bolsavik’s count. And others are coming out with brand new publications hoping to pick up advertisers that have abandoned or reduced their relationship with Nguoi Viet.

Of course, many projects never get past the planning stage. But one new publication became reality Wednesday night.

Published by Christopher Phan (far left in photo, holding the paper), a specialty printing enterpreneur, weekly magazine Viet Star arrived a few hours late on Wednesday but still early enough for its Thursday introduction.

That’s the first newbie, but it won’t stay the only one for long.

Viet Weekly — the other protest target, in Garden Grove — is coming out with a competing daily newspaper, creatively named Viet Daily. First issue is scheduled to hit the stands on Friday. That’s just one day after Viet Star.

Not to be outdone, the guys over at take2tango.com, that reliably right-wing Vietnamese web site and darling of all protesters — and yes their writers and editors are all male, just like Viet Weekly and Viet Star and all except one at Nguoi Viet — is working on another new daily as well. This daily is tentatively named Dan Viet (one translation is “Vietnamese people” – which is also a translation of, get this, Nguoi Viet).

In its April 10 issue, Viet Weekly claimed that the Bolsavik would work on Dan Viet. No truth to that. 

Then what is the truth? Will the Bolsavik be one of the vultures?

Let’s put it this way: It is uncertain that there can be no guarantees that the Bolsavik will not refuse to decline to not reject working on a Vietnamese publication.