Executives and editors from the member media of the Asia News Network have agreed to integrate their respective newsrooms further on news exchanges and combined reporting on Asia.

ANN, an alliance of 21 media outlets in 19 Asian countries, made the agreement in its annual board meeting in Tokyo on April 23-24.

The ANN members include The Korea Herald, the China Daily, the Straits Times in Singapore, the Nation in Thailand, the Statesman in India, the Star in Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer in the Philippines and the Jakarta Post in Indonesia. The Yomiuri Shimbun, which publishes the Japan News, organized this year’s board meeting.

The board meeting was chaired by the managing editor of the Japan News, Takashi Sadahiro, with opening remarks by Shoichi Oikawa, executive adviser and senior deputy editor-in-chief of Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings. 

“I believe it is important for us as media companies based in Asia to share information and commentary on a broader scale, learn from each other and report accurately,” said Oikawa, who is also editor-in-chief of the Japan News.

Pana Janviroj, executive director of ANN, said that ANN editors are committed to expand and enhance coverage of news on Asia as changes are taking place at unprecedented pace.

“Local readers in each Asian country need to be well informed through traditional as well as digital and social media platforms,” he said.

The board elected Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of the China Daily, as its new chairman, who will accordingly host the next annual meeting in Beijing next year.

The ANN meeting, which was sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Media Program Asia, also drew representatives from the Leading European Newspaper Alliance, Star Alliance and Konrad Adenauer Asian Centre for Journalism. (Asia News Network)