Another Step Forward
Another Step Forward
Asia News Network takes another step forward with this poll,
marking the first time that the grouping's Southeast Asia
partners have come together to conduct a region-wide poll.
ANN boasts of a membership of 13 English newspapers and a
vernacular daily. It was formed in 1999 to improve coverage of
Asian affairs in the Asian media.
Its founding members are: The Straits Times (Singapore), The
Star and Sin Chew Daily (Malaysia), The Jakarta Post (Indonesia),
Vietnam News (Vietnam), The Manila Times (the Philippines), The
Nation (Thailand) and The Statesman (India).
In due course the Philippine Daily Inquirer became the member
paper from Philippines.
Over the years ANN has grown to include leading newspapers
from East and South Asia as well.
The Korea Herald from Seoul, Tokyo's Daily Yomiuri and Yomiuri
Shimbun, and the Beijing and Hongkong editions of China Daily are
now members of the grouping.
From South Asia, the Daily Star of Bangladesh and the Island
of Sri Lanka are now members, making ANN the world's largest
grouping of newspapers, with a footprint of 50 million readers.
The network has been successful because it has been a "win-
win" proposition for all its members irrespective of whether they
are from developed or developing countries said Felix Soh, ST's
Deputy Editor and an ANN founding member.
"All members gain from a daily exchange of same-day news as
well as cooperation in story projects and other areas," he said.
The lesson from the grouping, he said, is that the same group
of people should be interacting regularly with one another.
ANN representatives, for instance, often travel together on
overseas trips and conferences.
"When you are cloistered together with your fellow Southeast
Asians in a conference hall or on a coach from Davos to Zurich,
you begin to understand the other person better.
"Also, you learn to communicate better with each other. My ANN
colleagues are not strangers but old friends who are fond of each
other, notwithstanding our foibles and follies," he said.
-- Shefali Rekhi