by: The Japan Times Online

OTSUCHI, Iwate Pref. — A group of journalists and volunteers are up against the challenge of developing a fledging news outlet into a sustainable business in a town where the devastation from last year's tsunami forced a decades-old local newspaper to cease publication.

The group, based in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, is sending out news online via Facebook and Twitter, and printed 5,000 copies of the first issue of the free new monthly on Saturday.