Building cooperation not only between press agencies within a country but also within the region

To have objective assessments of the delegates sharing about the workshop as well as the expectations that the workshop brings, reporters of the Journalists and Public Opinion Newspaper had a sideline discussion with journalists from countries belonging to the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists.

Mr. Aditta Kittikhoun, PR, Marketing and Communications Expert, Investor, Entrepreneur (Laos):

Share insights and thoughts on practical solutions

Today's meeting was quite interesting and productive because you are bringing together all the media from all the press associations from all the countries to share insights and thoughts on solutions. In particular, I was very interested in the social media shared at the conference.

Building cooperation not only between news agencies within a country but also within the region Figure 1 — Mr. Aditta Kittikhoun, PR, Marketing and Communications Expert, Investor, Entrepreneur (Laos).

The contents of the International Journalism Conference: “Digital Newsroom Management: Theory, Practice, Experience in the ASEAN Region” are important for all journalists, companies and press organizations in ASEAN. I think social media will be the future of media and we must understand it to find ways to develop journalism in the current context.

Our country Laos itself is quite unique in the world. A very small country, with a small population. By taking shortcuts, we have skipped steps that should have been taken in larger countries. And so it would be interesting for me to share our perspective, as well as learn from the journalism in Vietnam and other ASEAN countries.

Mr. Khieu Kola, Journalist, Senior News Producer, International News Analyst, at Cambodia News Channel (Cambodia)

Journalism helps ASEAN countries bond more closely

To transform traditional media to digital at a higher level, we want to gain more knowledge and understanding to be able to solve the challenges that the press in Cambodia, Vietnam and ASEAN countries are facing in the digital transformation process.

Building cooperation not only between news agencies within a country but also within the region Figure 2 — Mr. Khieu Kola, Journalist, Senior News Producer, International News Analyst, at Cambodia News Channel (Cambodia).

Our press agency also has permanent offices in the US, Europe, Japan, and China, so we also have experience in the digital press environment to share in this workshop.

We have different characteristics but we have in common the bond of stability. We cooperate for the development of people in more than 700 million people in Southeast Asia. And journalism is an area that can help countries in ASEAN to be more united, as well as contribute to common development.

Like our colleagues in Vietnam, we come from Phnom Penh - Cambodia to share experiences and also to learn from your 100 years of journalism here.

Mr. Agus Sudibyo, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Public Broadcasting Agency TVRI, Indonesian Journalists Association:

We cannot walk alone

As is the case across ASEAN, Indonesian journalism is facing major challenges in the digital age. The newspaper economy is in decline in Indonesia as revenues are being controlled by tech giants. Digital advertising revenue in Indonesia is also being monopolized by Google and Facebook.

Building cooperation not only between news agencies within a country but also within the region Figure 3 — Mr. Agus Sudibyo, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Public Broadcasting Agency TVRI, Indonesian Journalists Association.

This is a big challenge for the press community in ASEAN in general, and in Indonesia in particular. And the press in ASEAN countries needs to cooperate, share lessons and good experiences to create stability in the digital transformation era, as well as create balance with global platforms such as Google and Facebook.

Faced with the monopoly power of Google and Facebook, we cannot go it alone. We need to build cooperation, not only between press agencies within a country, but also within the region and even internationally.

The conference had many solutions to help the press in our country, from improving expertise to solving media business problems. This is done through regulations to help the press overcome the almost dominating power of the technology giants...

Source