In an unanimous vote, Asia News Network has appointed Star Media Group chief content officer Datin Paduka Esther Ng as the new chair for a two-year term starting 2025.
She will assume her role on January 1, taking over from the current chair, Mahfuz Anam, who is the editor and publisher of The Daily Star in Bangladesh.
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She will assume her role on January 1, taking over from the current chair, Mahfuz Anam, who is the editor and publisher of The Daily Star in Bangladesh.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00So congratulations, Esther.
00:07According to our tradition, I mean, the term begins on the 1st of January of the following calendar year.
00:18This has been a great occasion, the 25th anniversary of Asia News Network.
00:25We, as an organization, are extremely grateful to Star and Sinchwe Daily for hosting this event,
00:34and they have done a magnificent job.
00:37We brought editors from 22 Asian countries together,
00:45and this is a network that is devoted to the idea of bringing Asia closer,
00:51which means that by publishing stories about Asia, we improve and we promote our understanding of each other.
01:01The other very important task we perform is to project Asia to the rest of the world.
01:08You know, Asia is known for its magnificent achievements, but mostly through the Western media.
01:16So ANN is a platform that tells Asian stories through Asian newspapers to the rest of the world.
01:25And we have been working at it for the last 25 years,
01:29and we have come together to chalk out our new vision for ANN's future.
01:35You know, we were founded 25 years ago when the world was different.
01:40Media was very different.
01:42Now the media scene has totally changed with social media, with YouTube, with online,
01:50with all the digital platforms that now exist.
01:53How does Asia News Network prepare itself for that?
01:59So this has been a very valuable and very constructive discussion.
02:03We have chalked out plans for closer cooperation on the digital platforms,
02:09and how to also improve our own video products of podcasting and things like that.
02:18And at the same time, improve our print content, how to make it more suitable for an Asian audience.
02:25For example, each of us, each of our newspapers produce our own content for the local market,
02:31but we need to customize it for a broader market of Asia.
02:36All of these things come, and we have made some very, very important discussions.
02:41I'm very proud to say that we have elected our new chair,
02:47who is the Chief Content Officer of the Star, Esther.
02:53She's going to be my replacement from 1st January next year for a two-year term.
03:00And this transition from an older person to a younger leader,
03:05and of course a feminist.
03:07We have also made some very important decisions.
03:10We have decided to launch what is called Asia Dialogue.
03:15This will be a dialogue between the Asian think leaders, business leaders, political leaders.
03:23We will bring in voices from our own countries to share their thoughts to the rest of Asia.
03:31It will have political leadership, intellectual leaders there, musicians, writers,
03:37all sorts of extraordinary people who reside in our own countries
03:41to address to the rest of Asia what their views are.
03:46We have also decided to launch several projects.
03:51One is a platform for recognizing young change makers of Asia.
03:58This will be to identify brilliant young change makers from each of our countries
04:04and try and give them an Asian profile.
04:07We have decided also to launch editorial products,
04:13maybe a syndication of editorials or columns by the editors,
04:19and really share our thinking to the rest of Asia.
04:26So we are again very grateful to Star and Sentry Daily for hosting it.
04:33And also we thank some of the sponsors who made this possible.
04:38On behalf of ANN, I would like to thank Mahfuz for helming ANN at a very difficult tenure.
04:45And he helmed it for three years because of the pandemic.
04:49He was the calming factor for all of us.
04:54The pandemic itself was a crisis.
04:57And out of the blue, we found ANN at the crossroads
05:02because we had to look for our own funding at some point.
05:07But we started something.
05:11My job is to continue.
05:13I'm not that young, but thank you.
05:17I'm a feminist, yes.
05:19I'm very big on women issues.
05:22Yes, I'm a feminist, yes.
05:25I'm very big on women issues.
05:27I'm big on climate issues and issues concerning the young people.
05:32I intend to tell stories differently because times have changed.
05:40There are different modern ways of storytelling now.
05:44And we have to showcase Asia in the forefront.