Wong Chun Wai, executive director and group chief editor of Malaysian English daily The Star, has been elected Asia News Network (ANN) chairman.
He takes over from India’s The Statesman editor and managing director Ravindra Kumar.
Wong, who will hold the position for the 2012-2013 tenure, was elected at the ANN’s annual board meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, on February 16 and 17.
Wong thanked his fellow editors for their unanimous decision to elect him and shared his vision to see ANN becoming more dynamic in tandem with Asia’s increasing role in global affairs.
“We need to take ANN to another platform. At present, we have been successful in editorial content sharing but we need to look at a possible business model for ANN.
“There are many areas with revenue possibilities which we can explore,” said Wong.
He added that ANN should consider introducing a CEO-level meeting that would also include participation from business development and marketing directors of the various member countries.
Wong said ANN had been recognised as a formidable media group in the region and he believed more could be achieved.
ANN is the world’s most active newspaper alliance with 21 member newspapers in 18 countries.
The alliance was founded in 1998 to provide avenues for cooperation among Asian press under the motto “We Know Asia Better”.
The members are China Daily (China), The China Post (Taiwan), The Yomiuri Shimbun and The Daily Yomiuri (Japan), The Island (Sri Lanka), The Korea Herald (South Korea), The Statesman (India), The Straits Times (Singapore), The Nation (Thailand), Vietnam News (Vietnam), The Daily Star (Bangla-desh), the Philippine Daily Inquirer (The Philippines), The Jakarta Post (Indonesia), The Star and Sin Chew Daily (Malaysia), The Kathmandu Post (Nepal), Vientiane Times (Laos), Rasmei Kampuchea (Cambodia), The Brunei Times (Brunei), Kuensel (Bhutan) and Dawn (Pakistan).
