SINGAPORE - A new fellowship programme by the World Editors Forum (WEF) Asia Chapter for young, high-potential editors and journalists from across Asia was launched virtually on Monday (June 8), after being postponed because of Covid-19.
The six-month Young Media Leaders Fellowship Programme was initially planned to start on March 10, with part of it held during the inaugural Asian Media Leaders Summit in Singapore on March 11 and 12.
The programme is supported by Temasek Foundation. The WEF Asia Chapter is the regional network in Asia for editors within the World Association of News Publishers (Wan-Ifra).
Due to the pandemic, organisers decided to have the programme take place mostly through online sessions.
The inaugural class of fellows in the programme comprises 30 journalists and editors from 15 countries and territories, including The Straits Times in Singapore.
Among them are Straits Times deputy business editor Poon Chian Hui and Berita Harian correspondent Ervina Mohamed Jamil. Other participants include editors from South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and The Jakarta Post in Indonesia, and journalists from Bernama and Sin Chew Daily in Malaysia.
Participants will take part in a week-long online executive leadership programme for newsroom leaders this month, and attend the online Asian Media Leaders e-Summit in July.
They will also take part in various online dialogues on regional political, economic and societal issues, and plan events, activities and stories to mark World News Day on Sept 28. They will gather in Singapore in January next year, when the Asian Media Leaders Summit will be held, if the Covid-19 situation permits.
The fellowship programme was mooted by WEF president Warren Fernandez, who is editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings' English/Malay/Tamil Media Group.
Speaking at the opening of the programme via videoconferencing on Monday, he said the aim of the programme is to bring together young and talented journalists and editors in Asia to hone their leadership skills and form a network where they can share best practices and improve newsroom capabilities.
He noted that since the Covid-19 outbreak, many newsrooms, including The Straits Times', have seen a surge in audiences and readership.
"Audiences are coming to us because trust in established media is high, and the fact that they are seeking out credible, authoritative, reliable information is showing the value of professional newsrooms," Mr Fernandez, who is also editor of The Straits Times, added.
He also noted that Covid-19 has shown the importance of collaboration, not only among health officials of various countries, but also among newsrooms, and urged participants to work together on collaborative projects on the pandemic in the region.
Mr Fernandez was one of three panellists at an industry leaders roundtable on the topic, Leadership In A Time Of Crisis, to kick off the fellowship programme on Monday.
The other panellists were Mr Gary Liu, chief executive of South China Morning Post, and Ms Esther Ng, chief content officer of Star Media Group in Malaysia.
All three acknowledged that Covid-19 has forced their newsrooms to change in the way they operate, with most staff now working from home.
They also noted that readership has soared because of the pandemic, with Mr Liu saying it is important for the news media to continue to serve the audience's wants and needs if it wants its audience to stick around.
The other panellists agreed, with Ms Ng saying it is important for news organisations to listen to what their readers are saying, while Mr Fernandez said that, in a time of crisis, newsrooms must step up to help readers make sense of what is going on and how they are going to cope.
