SINGAPORE – To tackle issues of media freedom, quality journalism and newsroom transformations, the head honchos of news organisations across the region came together on Tuesday (May 7) for the inaugural meeting of the World Editors Forum (WEF) Asia Chapter.

Members of the new chapter elected The Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez, who is also editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holding’s English/Malay/Tamil Media Group, as its founding chairman.

Mr Fernandez said: “Newsrooms around the world are facing big challenges. These range from the need to transform to being multimedia operations, to maintaining the credibility and quality of our content, in the face of the welter of fake news out there. Quality content, however, takes a lot of resources, so we have to keep our newsrooms financially sound and sustainable, if we are to keep going.

“Some newsrooms are further down the road and we can all learn from each other. We should also tap the wealth of experience and expertise that is available at the World Association of Newspapers to help us along. So there is a sense that we are all in this together and so we are minded to collaborate to tackle these common challenges. This is what has brought us all together to form the WEF Asia Chapter.”

The WEF is an established network for print and digital editors of newspapers and news organisations around the world. It is part of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (Wan-Ifra) which represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.

The other founding members of the Asia Chapter comprise editorial leaders from The Bangkok Post, Viet Nam News, Indonesia’s Antara news agency and The Jakarta Post, Malaysia’s Bernama news agency, Star Media Group and Sin Chew Media Corporation, South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo, Singapore’s Mediacorp, Cambodia’s Post Media Co and The Phnom Penh Post, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, Taiwan’s United Daily News as well as Bangladesh’s The Daily Star.

The meeting was held a day before the chapter’s official launch and was in conjunction with Wan-Ifra’s ongoing Publish Asia 2019 conference in Singapore.

During the discussions held at the revamped newsroom of The Straits Times, members brainstormed on how to improve capacities across newsrooms in Asia.

Editors agreed that this initiative was timely as newsrooms face many common challenges and need to collaborate to address pressing issues.

One concern was the safeguarding of journalists and the newsrooms’ freedom to operate and maintain credibility with readers.

There was also consensus on the need to find ways to maintain and grow newsroom resources as well as develop newsroom abilities to respond to changing communications technology in the face of relentless media disruption.

To meet these challenges, the editors proposed various initiatives to kick off their collaborative efforts.

For a start, they will establish a World News Day to celebrate the work of journalists and promote awareness of the importance of professional newsrooms and quality journalism to proper governance and society.

They also agreed to share best practices on newsroom transformation. These include sharing experiences and learning points from newsrooms and editors in the process of dealing with transforming to operate across multimedia platforms in the new media business environment.

“We can take elements of what we are all doing and then shape them to your own needs,” said Mr Fernandez.

President director of Antara News Agency Meidyatama Suryodiningrat added: “What we could do… over the next few months is to do a simple two-page thing about what we have done successfully.”

“And then when we meet again, pick two or three best examples to present and compile them and learn from each other.”

Other suggestions include partnering leading media schools around the region through a newsroom internship for students. The programme will promote journalism as a profession, and students will work on projects under the mentorship of editors and Wan-Ifra consultants.

The members also intend to partner with social and philanthropic foundations in the region to help make training and development programmes more widely accessible to journalists, especially the younger ones, with a view to building up a network for collaboration in future.

Mr Mahfuz Anam, who is editor and publisher of Bangladesh’s English-language newspaper The Daily Star, stressed the importance of regaining the trust of readers in the age of social media and fake news.

“If we hang on to our ethical principles, which we have inherited over the years and then modernise it with the technology available, we are going to regain our strengths, serve our audience better and get democracy back.”

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