Veteran journalists from Asia’s top media organizations on Tuesday said the lasting pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of the media industry, presenting both challenges and opportunities to the legacy media. They made the remarks at a panel discussion on how the media is adapting to the new normal brought about by the pandemic and its business strategies for 2021. The panel was one of the two discussions held at the webinar titled “Asia: Economic and Business ‘New Normal’ 2022”. The pandemic brought challenges to our internal communication. Especially for the Asia-Pacific team, we were not able to travel around and get information,” said DJ Clark, multimedia director of China Daily Asia Pacific. “I think the pandemic in some ways was good for video production in the fact that a lot of people were stuck in lockdown, which led to greater consumption of video online. So in that respect, we did see some gains in terms of our numbers,” Clark said. “We are in the process now of experimenting with content and the way that we deliver our journalism and how we can exploit this new environment to create our content in a more-meaningful and a better way,” he added. Sonia Awale, executive editor at Nepali Times, said, “The pandemic has accelerated the digitalization. As with other industries, a lot of the work has shifted to digital platforms that have become the norm to do interviews. “It forces us to adapt to new technology,” Awale said. Muhammad Zubair Ahmed, a diplomatic correspondent at the Pakistan Observer, noted that the dissemination of information via online platforms is also increasing. The reliance on digital platforms and social media has led to the growth of fake news, which requires journalists to be trained to distinguish accurate and reliable information, Awale said. “Social media makes our life (more digital); as journalists we need to keep information in check. We can deploy tools and get trained,” Awale said. “For our online readers, our rivals are not other newspapers, they are other content platforms, platforms like YouTube and Instagram.” Digitalization has also brought a “competition for time”, said Pana Janviroj, an editor at the Asia News Network. “Journalists are not influencers, but they are people who know issues well. The company can help journalists to innovate,” Janviroj said. Digitalization has not just brought changes to news reporting, but also to the media as a business. Rupak Kumar Sen, general manager of international business at the Indian Express, said, “Digitalization has brought revolutionary change to o ur business strategy. Over the (last) two years, big data has helped us reach out to as many readers as possible.” Looking ahead, 2022 will still be a year of deepening digitalization, Clark said. And journalists should be “open to changes”. “We still keep our values, but looking at different ways to produce content, apply our values to them,” Clark said. Zhang Mengying is a freelance journalist for China Daily.

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world on its head, but the crisis has revealed the adaptability, flexibility and resilience of industries to transform challenges into opportunities. Practitioners from the logistics, tourism, fashion and retail industries opened a dialogue on Tuesday, sharing the “street smarts” that enabled them to survive this fraught time. At the forum “Asia: Economic and Business ‘New Normal’ 2022”, co-hosted by the China Daily Leadership Roundtable and the Asian News Network, an alliance of 23 national media in 20 Asian countries, speakers celebrated the high adaptability shown by industries that are riding out the storm. The COVID-induced disruption to the global supply chain has left an estimated several hundred thousand containers from China en route to the United States and Europe detained for extended periods, according to Ken Chung Hung-hing, chairman of the Chamber of Hong Kong Logistics Industry. This has driven up the cost of container shipping 10 times, from $2,000 prior to the pandemic to $20,000. As a result, companies have difficulty attracting enough customers for the shipping, he said. There is also an imbalance of need and supply in the trading process, Chung said. The disrupted supply chain renders some natural resources and necessary ingredients in the production or trading process inaccessible, leading to a shortage in the supply of commodities to consumers. Trading protectionism in many economies has compounded the challenges facing the industry, he said. An inspection of the pricing index for container shipping reveals a dramatic increase in the past two years since the pandemic. Some would argue that the increase has allowed shipping companies to reap high profits. But Chung contends that it may not necessarily be the case as large shipping companies have to make risk management assessments in such volatile situations, saying, “They already declared they’d frozen the high price a month or two before, as they had to manage the risks and couldn’t afford to let the price go up to infinity.” Dillip Rajakarier, CEO of Minor Hotels, a Bangkok-based hospitality company that operates 500 hotels worldwide, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a tsunami in the global travel industry because of the de facto halt in global tourism. “It’s been very challenging for the industry, due to the travel restrictions and quarantine arrangements imposed by different countries because of COVID-19,” he said. The epidemic has also changed global consumers’ travel habits and preferences as they have focused more on hygiene and health, Rajakarier noted. “Guests are paying more attention to health and wellness (factors) such as boosting immunity. They want to make sure that health and wellness are being taken good care of.” Garment manufacturing is the backbone of Bangladesh’s economy, and small and medium-sized enterprises in the fashion industry have suffered a shocking blow, particularly in sourcing and exporting to some markets, said Faruque Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Against all the odds, Hassan said that fashion sectors in Bangladesh have ventured out of their comfort zone, making immediate adaptations to the sticky patch they found themselves in, including changing tactics in the manufacturing process, going digital and embracing e-commerce, expanding the production of non-cotton and value-added items. The adaptive strategies have seen the fashion sector back on its feet in the past few months, Hassan said. Looking forward to 2022, Rajakarier is optimistic on global tourism, saying, “International traveling will rebound. Traveling will come back quite strongly next year when COVID-19 becomes a flu, due to the pent-up demand, which will gradually ease.” Pindar Wong, blockchain pundit and chairman of internet financial infrastructure consultancy VeriFi (Hong Kong), said that besides affecting consumers’ behavior, the pandemic has altered producers or businesses’ way of operation, forcing them to shift to a more digital-savvy model. Wong said he predicted the recent crypto frenzy amid accelerated digitalization would broaden the business turf for intellectual property practices. “There’re a lot of experiments going on around crypto such as metaverse … but the real reality is that there’s a competition of money,” he noted. “I think what it really does is it’s changing the way we do business with intellectual property.” While he is upbeat about the prospect of the trading industry regaining its vitality in the coming years, Chung takes a cautiously positive outlook on the time needed, saying, “The issues can’t be resolved anytime soon,” as it takes time to let the prices of container shipping cool down and the supply catch up with the demand. “My expectation (for the recovery) is in the second or third quarter of the coming year,” Chung said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of great transition for both the content and distribution sides of the media industry, and they have faced the challenges well and emerged even stronger, said experts at a forum. The panel discussion, held on Dec 14, focused on the topic “New Normal, New Media”, which closely relates to how the media sector adapted to fit the new environment and shifted its business models for the coming new year. The forum was part of the webinar, Asia: Economic and Business “New Normal” 2022,co-hosted by China Daily Leadership Roundtable and Asian News Network. Experts said that, just as the commercial sectors have been heavily affected by the pandemic, with companies in various industries battling to regain their footing, the media industry has also seen vast and drastic changes on numerous aspects. Sonia Awale, executive editor, Nepali Times, who works as an environmental correspondent in Nepal, covers topics such as air pollution, climate change, development, political and economic injury cases. Many reporters like her have been at the frontlines of the pandemic as covering various stories constantly exposes them to the danger of infections, she said. However, to tackle the situation, back in March 2020 they were among the first groups to receive the right for vaccination in her country. Apart from the trend of having employees work from home, media companies too had to make the transition from print to digital, Awale noted. “The Nepali Times (used to be) a weekly paper,” she mentioned. “But today, we work or we have more or less been trained to work as a web service, given the flow of information we have, especially when we were forced to shut down our print (edition) for nearly a month.” Awale said that their online readers are at least 10 times more than their print readers. "So today, our rivals are not other newspapers but YouTube, TikTok and content generation". D.J. Clark, the multimedia director of China Daily Asia Pacific, talked about the challenges facing his team who work on video content and the changes they madeduring the pandemic. He said that the pandemic in some ways has been beneficial for video content as it leads to more consumption online because of the lockdowns across the world. However, Clark noted the biggest problem has been on the production side as they did half of their content outside Hong Kong, but the travel restrictions means that they cannot easily travel abroad, so they have to produce more content locally. They also had to secure the help of a network of freelancers. “That has been a learning process in terms of creating new workflows with people outside or sending our producers out for long periods,” he said. Pana Janviroj, editor, Asia News Network, highlighted the issue of social media attracting all the advertising money from the legacy media as people are increasingly getting news from digital portals. He said 20-25 percent of news events and conversations occur on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. But he thinks that the legacy media, which breaks and follows authentic news, are able to innovate and capture the key news items. “You cannot beat free content,”he said, but noted that free content remains inconsistent as it lacks adequate resources. "Our main job is not to follow fake news (on new media). Our job is to do real news and to do things that (are) better for society or whatever," said Janviroj. Janviroj said he hoped innovations taking place in the industry can help journalists to be social influencers and help to empower the newsroom. Rupak Kumar Sen, general manager - international business, Indian Express said, “Like those who say that data is the new oil, I think they are very much right.” He gives the example of the Indian Express newspaper that incorporates big data in its marketing strategy. Even during the pandemic, the newspaper tied up with various financial institutions like banks, which have millions of customers, and offered its web version to their consumers. “That has literally helped us to reach out to as many readers as possible,” said Sen. The pandemic has forced the traditional print media to think differently and to use technology, he said. Muhammad Zubair Ahmed, Diplomatic Correspondent, Pakistan Observer said digitalization is the key word during the pandemic era. Many young journalists possess newer skillsets, newer strategies and fresh ideas, he said. “At the same time, we are also seeing (young journalists) practicing good journalism, ethical journalism,” he said. He said that it may be surprising that in Pakistan, during the emergence of COVID-19 almost every other journalist createdtheir own YouTube channel. China Daily Leadership Roundtable and Asian News Network, an alliance of 23 national media organizations in 20 Asian countries,brought together leading Asian business executives to look at the prospects for 2022 and beyond. The panel on media was hosted by Azam Khan, Anchor, Multimedia Program, China Daily Hong Kong.

新聞稿 即時發佈 2021年12月14日香港電 中國日報今日攜手亞洲新聞聯盟線上合辦主題為“2022亞洲經濟新常態”的“一帶一路”媒體研修班專題研討會。 在新冠肺炎疫情衝擊下，全球經濟貿易大受影響，亞洲地區的各行各業都面臨前所未有的難關。隨著接種新冠疫苗的人數不斷增加，經濟活動和跨境旅遊逐步恢復，2022年亞洲經濟將進入一種“新常態”。 此次論壇設有兩場研討會，彙聚亞洲多個國家和地區的行業精英及媒體專家，探討亞洲經濟2022年的發展前景、機遇和策略。 首場研討會圍繞“新常態下迎來的商業機遇”這一議題展開討論。香港物流商會主席鐘鴻興、孟加拉服裝生產商及出口商協會秘書長法魯克•哈桑、美諾酒店集團行政總裁迪利普•拉賈卡裡和VeriFi（香港）有限公司主席黃平達擔任研討嘉賓，亞洲新聞聯盟秘書長帕納•簡沃熱擔任主持人。 鐘鴻興展望了2022年貿易趨勢，他說：“我們最應該考慮的是調整供應鏈戰略和貿易產業經營模式。要更好地利用全球及區域內貿易通暢的合作，建立新的供應鏈中心。世界形勢複雜，我們需要尋找新市場，尤其是開拓亞洲市場。” 迪利普•拉賈卡裡表示，新冠肺炎疫情波及全球，對人們的習慣和喜好都產生了巨大影響。酒店客人的偏好也有很大改變，更加注重健康和保養，希望增強免疫力等需求能夠被考慮到。 黃平達重點討論了貨幣問題。他指出，加密貨幣已有很多嘗試，例如大家開始在“元宇宙”裡構建世界並進行房地產交易，其實質是貨幣的競爭；無論是用什麼貨幣，都有許多其他替代貨幣存在。虛擬貨幣真正改變的，是人們對待智慧財產權的方式。 法魯克•哈桑說，在後疫情時代，孟加拉服裝產業克服了生產線方面的挑戰，發展了創新科技，建設了綠色工廠，尋找環保的解決辦法。“在各方的大力支持下，我們會將挑戰視為機遇。” 第二場專題研討會圍繞“新常態下的媒體新思維”的議題展開, 《尼泊爾時報》執行編輯索尼婭•阿瓦萊、中國日報亞太分社多媒體總監大衛•克拉克、亞洲新聞聯盟秘書長帕納•簡沃熱、《印度快報》國際業務總經理魯派克•庫馬爾•森和《巴基斯坦觀察家報》外交高級記者穆罕默德•祖拜爾•庫雷希擔任討論嘉賓，中國日報香港版多媒體主播阿扎•姆汗擔任主持人。 大衛•克拉克分享了在香港製作視頻節目的經歷。他舉例說，由於疫情影響，亞洲其他國家、地區的邊境還未完全開放，這大大限制了《亞洲特寫》欄目的拍攝範圍。同時，疫情也讓更多人選擇在網上觀看視頻，這對媒體傳播是有利的。“我們正在嘗試用好新的環境，以更好、更有意義的方式創造內容。” 魯派克•庫馬爾•森重點探討了大資料對傳媒業的影響，他十分贊同“大資料是新油田”的說法。他認為，大資料會帶來革命性的改變，這種變革不限於市場策略，還會對人們的工作和生活產生影響。 帕納•簡沃熱從數位化對新聞業發展模式影響的角度作出分析，強調要重點關注社交媒體和科技的作用，第一是考慮傳統媒體如何從社交媒體受眾獲得廣告收入，因為現在人們通過單一的平臺就能夠獲取新聞。其次，現在一半以上的媒體都會著眼於科技，因為用好科技對媒體發展十分重要。 索尼婭•阿瓦萊認為疫情對新聞業最明顯的影響是對現場報導方面的限制，但記者因其自身特質會很快適應目前已成為常態的各種網路平台，因為記者在平時工作中採訪專家或者其他人物也總會受到時間、地點的限制。她說：“在內容生產方面，很多媒體已經走出了疫情的影響，並且變得更強大。” 穆罕默德•祖拜爾•庫雷希表示，巴基斯坦和中國一樣，電子商務也在蓬勃發展。隨著傳統貿易模式衰退，一些新產業正在湧現，線上商業開始反彈。在傳媒領域，線上的資訊傳播也有所增加。 與會嘉賓們認為，疫情對傳統媒體造成了很大挑戰。面向未來，從宏觀商業領域到媒體行業，形勢都在發生變化，大家需要在經濟新常態下把握新機遇，在克服挑戰中實現新發展。 有關中國日報 中國日報是中國國家英文日報，是中國走向世界、世界瞭解中國的重要視窗，已形成全球化、分眾化、多語種、全媒體傳播體系，全媒體用戶總數超過3.5億。中國日報用戶端目前全球下載用戶超過3600萬，是我國唯一下載量過千萬的英文新聞用戶端；微博粉絲數超過7000萬；微信訂閱人數達1300萬；臉譜帳號粉絲數超過1.04億，位居全球媒體帳號粉絲數第二位；推特帳號粉絲數約430萬。 有關亞洲新聞聯盟 亞洲新聞聯盟ANN（Asia News Network，簡稱ANN）成立於1999年，是亞洲最大的媒體合作組織，目前有23家亞洲媒體成員，中國日報是目前唯一來自中國大陸的媒體。亞洲新聞聯盟的宗旨是，通過媒體的交流合作，共用和優化重大新聞資源、人員、發行管道和管理模式，打破西方媒體在亞洲報導的輿論強權和新聞壟斷，實現“亞洲人報導亞洲”的理想。