Sandy Close

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

American journalist

title: "Sandy Close" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-media-executives", "university-of-california,-berkeley-alumni", "macarthur-fellows", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)", "living-people", "american-women-journalists", "21st-century-american-women"] description: "American journalist" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Close" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American journalist ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameAlexandra Close
imageSandy Close (cropped).jpg
other_namesSandy
birth_date
occupationJournalist
organizationEthnic Media Services
alma_materUniversity of California, Berkeley (B.A.)
partnerFranz Schurmann
children2
::

| name = Alexandra Close | image = Sandy Close (cropped).jpg | caption = | other_names = Sandy | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | known = | occupation = Journalist | organization = Ethnic Media Services | alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley (B.A.) | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = Franz Schurmann | children = 2 | website = | footnotes = | employer = | height =

Alexandra Close (born ca. 1943) is an American journalist and the founder of Ethnic Media Services (now American Community Media). She was the executive director of Pacific News Service from 1974 to 2017 and of New America Media from 1996 to 2017.

Early life and education

Close received her BA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1964.

Career

Close worked as the China editor in Hong Kong for the Far Eastern Economic Review in the mid-1960s. Upon her return to the U.S. she co-founded Oakland-based newspaper The Flatlands. She was also a weekly commentator for Morning Edition from 1984 to 1985.

In 1991, she founded Yo! Youth Outlook, a monthly magazine of youth writing and art, and in 1996, she co-founded The Beat Within, a weekly journal written by incarcerated youth.

She served as the executive director of Pacific News Service from 1974 to the publication's closing in 2017. In 1996, she founded New America Media, which involved up to 3,000 ethnic news organizations in California, and served as its executive director until its closure in 2017.

In 2018, Close founded Ethnic Media Services, a non-profit agency focused on developing cross-cultural journalism and marketing projects to promote inclusive public discourse.

Close was a co-producer for the film Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 1996.

Personal life

Close was married to the historian and Asian affairs scholar Franz Schurmann from 1968 until his death in 2010.

Awards

Works

References

References

  1. "Ethnic Media Services: Our Team".
  2. "Sandy Close".
  3. (2025-03-26). "PRESS ADVISORY: EMS Changes Our Name".
  4. "Voices from the Field | National Resource Center on Advancing Emergency Preparedness for Culturally Diverse Communities".
  5. Hartlaub, Peter. (2017-11-27). "Pacific News Service closes, but lessons continue".
  6. "New America Media: Who's Who at NAM".
  7. "Sandy Close".
  8. Waters, Rob. (2018-05-03). "An Ethnic Media Beacon Goes Dark, but Its Creator Keeps Inspiring".
  9. Stewart, Jon. (1995-07-16). "SUNDAY INTERVIEW -- Sandy Close / The executive director of Pacific News Service talks about her two decades on the radical edge of journalism".
  10. Walsh, Joan. (2017-11-03). "New America Media Is Closing—and That's Bad News for All American Media".
  11. "Sandy Close". LinkedIn.
  12. Klady, Leonard. (1997-05-22). "Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien".
  13. Weber, Bruce. (2010-08-26). "Franz Schurmann, Cold War Expert on China, Dies at 84".
  14. (2011-02-25). "New America Media's Sandy Close wins George Polk Career Award".
  15. "Sandy Close | Ashoka United States".
  16. "Encore - Purpose Prize: Alexandra "Sandy" Close".
  17. "MacArthur Fellows Program: Sandy Close".
  18. [https://archive.today/20130105143105/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122649706/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Wiley Interscience]

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

american-media-executivesuniversity-of-california,-berkeley-alumnimacarthur-fellowsyear-of-birth-missing-(living-people)living-peopleamerican-women-journalists21st-century-american-women