''Nguoi Viet Daily News'' ( vi, Nhật báo Người Việt, lit=Vietnamese People's Daily) is the first, oldest, and largest daily newspaper published in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

outside of Vietnam. The name of their newspaper ''người Việt'' symbolizes

Vietnamese people The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi). The native la ...

History

The newspaper was established by husband and wife Yen Ngoc Do and Loan La Do three years after escaping the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, in 1978, with their family. Yen had served as a journalist during the Vietnam War, and wrote for such prestigious outlets as the Rand Corporation, while Loan had become a well-known English school teacher after graduating from college. During the Vietnam War, Yen and Loan were one of the few married Vietnamese couples who were each fluent in English, and could readily communicate across the spectrum of individuals - Vietnamese, American, and others - involved in fighting the communists. Therefore, they garnered a vast following from people who were hungry for the news. The first edition of ''Nguoi Viet Daily News'' was a four-page publication, printed and distributed on December 15, 1978, in San Diego, California. 2,000 copies of the first issue, paid for with $4,000 of life savings from the couple's Vietnam War escape, were printed in their garage with the assistance of the other members of their family: four extremely young children. After operating as a weekly for some time, a company, Nguoi Viet Daily News, Inc. was formed in 1985, and the paper became a daily. For several years, ''Nguoi Viet'' was printed entirely without diacritical marks, because no Vietnamese-capable software was available. Staffers had to mark up each word of each issue by hand. In 1986, the paper adopted the Diplomat

input method editor An input method (or input method editor, commonly abbreviated IME) is an operating system component or program that enables users to generate characters not natively available on their input devices by using sequences of characters (or mouse o ...

developed by

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws ...

–based VN Labs, allowing it to publish correctly typeset Vietnamese text.

Today

By founding the newspaper, Yen and Loan were instrumental in helping to establish all of Little Saigon in Southern California. Their newspaper served as the flagship of the economically vibrant community and is, today, the heart of the largest Vietnamese population outside of the country of Vietnam. The headquarters of "Nguoi Viet Daily News, Inc" is now located in Westminster, Orange County. In fact, the company became such a success that other newer and smaller entities copied its name - since it was a household word - for their own non-media businesses. Today, the company boasts multiple facets, subsidiaries, and various publications, with the original seminal publication claiming a daily circulation of 20,000+ copies (Verified Audit Circulation). Copies of ''Nguoi Viet Daily News'' can be found throughout the marketplace and, in particular, most ethnic communities, and online, in bookstores, at newspaper vending machines, and Vietnamese retail venues throughout the world plus via home-delivery to residences everywhere.{{Cite web, date=2019-03-21, title=In Little Saigon, this newspaper has been giving a community a voice for 40 years, url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-col1-viet-newspaper-20190321-htmlstory.html, access-date=2021-04-15, website=Los Angeles Times, language=en-US "Nguoi Viet Daily News, Inc." and its founders, Yen and Loan Do, were displayed in a permanent exhibit at the historic

Newseum The Newseum was an American museum dedicated to news and journalism that promoted free expression and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, while tracing the evolution of communication. The purpose of the museum, funded by the ...

located in Washington, D.C., and the company is responsible for various journalism endowments and scholarships. Yen died in 2006. Loan retired, but still serves as an informal advisor to the company. Their adult children are spread across the continent, with their eldest, Anh Đỗ, an acclaimed journalist in her own right, serving in leadership capacities on many media boards and organizations, and carrying on her parents' legacy in the Golden State.

References

External links

Official News/Media/Publishing Web site of ''Người Việt Daily News'' (Người Việt Online - in Vietnamese)

Tran, Mai & Silverstein, Stuart. (2006, August 18). ''Yen Do, 65; Publisher of First, Largest U.S. Vietnamese Paper''. The Los Angeles Times
Mass media in Orange County, California Vietnamese-American culture in California Vietnamese-language newspapers published in California Westminster, California Companies based in Orange County, California Daily newspapers published in Greater Los Angeles Newspapers established in 1978 1978 establishments in California