KUALA LUMPUR: News exchange among Asian newspapers has brought about closer co-operation in news dissemination in the region, said Asia News Network (ANN) chairman Felix Soh.
Speaking at the ANN Co-ordinators’ Meeting at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel here yesterday, Soh, from Singapore's The Straits Times, said the network founded in 1999 had made the co-operation possible and was striving to bring about more changes and faster dissemination of news among its 14 members.
He said ANN's success was due to the unique partnership among the leading regional newspapers, which had shown there was promise in pluralism work.
“There is a lot we have gained in this co-operation and our impressive record is closely watched by other re-gions as a model for their own regional partnership, one of which is the European Alliance for Newspapers,” he said.
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PRESS PARTNERSHIP: Soh (second from right) seated with Mollers and Ng at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur Monday. With them are editors and co-ordinators of the Asia News Network who are here for the three-day meeting. |
Soh also commended the member dailies for their increased usage of stories filed through the ANN websites.
The ANN membership consists of The Statesman (India), Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines), The Star and Sin Chew Daily (Malaysia), The Jakarta Post (Indonesia), The Straits Times (Singapore), The Nation (Thailand), Vietnam News (Vietnam), The Korea Herald (South Korea), China Daily (China), Yomiuri Shim-bun/Daily Yomiuri (Japan), The Island (Sri Lanka), Dawn (Pakistan) and The Daily Star (Bangladesh).
The network is supported by Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), a political foundation that focuses on politics and media to promote a free, responsible and ethical press in the region.
Its South-East Asia regional representative Wolfgang Moll-ers told the co-ordinators that their challenges were greater now with the full-scale US-planned war on Iraq.
He called for a concerted effort by all members towards the growth of ethical and professional standards in the media industry in the region.
The Star and Sin Chew Daily hosted the three-day meeting, which began on Sunday.
The Star group chief editor Datuk Ng Poh Tip stressed the need to make the ANN exchange a better service.
“You must remember that all that has been discussed and outlined must be implemented for this exchange of news to be effective,” she said.
The co-ordinators will be visiting The Star’s corporate office, Menara Star, in Petaling Jaya today and Putrajaya.
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