Impactful stories from newsrooms around the world have been collected in a book titled Making A Difference: 25 Stories That Made An Impact.
Published by Straits Times Press, the book was launched at the World Editors Forum's Asia chapter meeting in Hong Kong yesterday, on the sidelines of the Digital Media Asia conference.
The stories range from Brazil newspaper Zero Hora's expose on how retirees were being charged for insurance that they did not sign up for, to a story by India's The Quint on a woman's journey from slavery to activism.
To mark last month's World News Day - which celebrates professional journalism and raises awareness of the vital role it plays in providing credible news and views - newsrooms around the world showcased some of their most impactful work on their print and digital platforms.
One of the stories spotlighted on World News Day and in the book is a Straits Times report about an 84-year-old who had received a medical bill of thousands of dollars but got only $4.50 in insurance payment.
This paper discovered that at least one public health institution in Singapore had raised fees to levels much higher than those covered by MediShield Life, the national health insurance scheme.
The story spurred debate in Parliament about the adequacy of national healthcare insurance and led to the Government reviewing national health insurance claim limits every three years instead of five.
World News Day is led by the World Editors Forum and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (Wan-Ifra).
The Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez, who is president of the World Editors Forum and editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings' English, Malay and Tamil Media Group, hopes World News Day will become "an annual celebration around the world, to showcase how journalists and newsrooms contribute to the societies they are meant to serve".
He said: "We had such inspiring stories from newsrooms around the world and how these made an impact in the communities we serve that we decided we had to find a way to give these a longer shelf life. This book does that. It makes for compelling reading, not only for journalists but also for everyone in society concerned about the state of the world, today and tomorrow."
• Making A Difference: 25 Stories That Made An Impact (US$3.99) is available for sale on Amazon.com for the Kindle e-reader. The print version will be available in bookstores soon.
