Bangkok--24 Aug--AIRASIA
AirAsia and ASEAN Foundation have agreed to establish a partnership to organise the "Reporting ASEAN Media Forum" that will take place in Bangkok on 16-18 November 2016. The event is part of the "Reporting ASEAN" media programme, the current round of which is being implemented by Probe Media Foundation Inc and the ASEAN Foundation. This year, the programme embraced AirAsia as its official airline partner to fly participating journalists, media academicians and development experts, as well as the organising committee to Bangkok for the media forum.
As an airline that operates to all 10 ASEAN member nations and beyond from 18 hubs across the region, AirAsia is pleased to provide return tickets for all the media fellows from ASEAN, speakers, trainers and the organisers. Taking part in the "Reporting ASEAN Media Forum" has articulated AirAsia's commitment to supporting ASEAN Community Building efforts.
Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia said, "As a truly ASEAN airline, AirAsia is very proud to be able to play a part in bringing people from across the region closer together for a good cause. ASEAN is a complex region but at its core is a simple, compelling idea – that we are stronger together. I hope that through this forum, media will be able to better articulate the aspirations of the ASEAN Community as we continue to build a single, united voice on the world stage."
The ASEAN Foundation hails the involvement of AirAsia in the media forum. The event is one of the Foundation's strategic activities to enhance ASEAN awareness by encouraging better reporting on ASEAN-related issues as a milestone of advancing the ASEAN Community.
Elaine Tan, Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation said, "The effort in building the ASEAN Community is not a solo project, instead, it is a collaborative effort that urges supports and commitment from both state and non-state actors from civil society groups, academia, as well as private sectors. We wish that our partnership with AirAsia in this initiative will inspire other business actors to enhance significant role in achieving a sustainable ASEAN Community."
The 3-day media forum will bring together journalists and editors, researchers, foreign policy makers, development experts, students and those who follow issues around the ASEAN Community and to discuss critical issues around news, media, and information on ASEAN.
The 'Reporting ASEAN' programme, currently hosted by the Probe Media Foundation Inc, was started in 2015 by IPS Asia-Pacific news with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation and the ASEAN Foundation together with Japan-ASEAN Solidarity Fund.
The two series of activities of 'Reporting ASEAN', both the fellowship and the media forum, aim to introduce a new paradigm of reporting ASEAN stories that encourages journalists to exercise their critical analysis of the ASEAN issues, the meanings and implications of regional changes due to the ASEAN integration. Through the initiative, it is expected that journalists will no longer produce event-based and officialdom-based news on ASEAN. Instead, they will go beyond the journalism routine that embraces more in-depth reporting which includes a variety of sources such as different stakeholders and marginalised groups.
For updates about Reporting ASEAN, visit www.aseannews.net or follow @reportingasean on Twitter or Facebook.