Two new members join 'Asia News Network'

PHNOM PENH (JP): Two top English-language newspapers in the region, The Korea Herald and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, joined the Asia News Network (ANN) on Monday, bringing the number of major Asian newspapers in the regional alliance of same-day news exchange to nine.

Senior editors from the member newspapers also agreed at a meeting on Saturday in the Cambodian capital to set up an editorial coordination office and a joint website in their bid to boost up distribution of Asian news and information to international community.

ANN, founded in Bangkok last March with assistance from the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation (KAF), is an alliance of Asian newspapers to exchange news, features, opinion and editorial articles and photos on daily basis.

The editors agreed that a combined exclusive news and information portal website will serve the growing number of regional and global internet networks looking for reliable and credible content providers.

A series of conferences and joint regional coverage are set to take place this year as the ANN members agree to propel the Asian voices to a new dynamism, ANN chairman Pana Janviroj, announced on Monday

Editors from China Daily and iTV, Thailand's first and only independent television station, also attended the ANN meeting as observers.

ANN founding members are The Jakarta Post from Indonesia, Viet Nam News from Vietnam, Sin Chew Jit Poh and The Star from Malaysia, The Straits Times from Singapore, The Nation from Thailand, The Statesman from India and the now defunct The Manila Times from the Philippines.

Among the activities planned by the network this year are the organization of a Young Leaders' forum together with KAF, where each newspaper member will nominate up to five candidates from their own countries. The leaders will meet for a regional conference to discuss challenges for Asia in the 21st century in Bangkok in August.

The ANN members will also undertake a joint editorial coverage on the development of e-commerce. The members will also publish a supplement at the end of this year exploring the regional challenges from economic, culture to social development in the wake of intense globalization.

ANN will join the Konrad Adenauer Foundation to host a regional conference later this year to assess the impact of global media mergers that are changing the landscape of the media in Asia.