Top Myanmar paper becomes the 22nd member of Asia News Network
Myanmar's largest private publisher, Eleven Media Group, has joined the Asia News Network (ANN), bringing the network's membership to 22 newspapers in 20 countries.
Eleven Media chairman and CEO Dr Than Htut Aung signed the agreement with ANN’s founding member and executive board member Felix Soh; Paul Linnarz, adviser to the ANN executive board and director of Media Programme Asia run by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a German political foundation; and Ravi Velloor, Straits Times foreign editor, at the Singapore Press Holdings’ Multimedia Centre on Tuesday.
“ANN is the gateway for not only Eleven Media but for all private Myanmar news media to connect with the rest of Asia. This benefits not only the news media but also our people. I look forward to amazing changes,” Than Htut Aung said.
“Being part of ANN allows us to gather a lot of experience from our partners such as The Straits Times. We get to learn about their online media, which is very important to us,” he added.
Founded in 2000, Eleven Media publishes four weeklies with a combined weekly circulation of 350,000. It was named “Medium of the Year” by France-based media-rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders in 2011 for its long-standing fight for press
freedom.
Eleven Media also operates Myanmar’s biggest English-language mobile SMS news service and websites in the local and English languages.
Also present at the signing ceremony were Straits Times online editor Eugene Leow, AsiaOne editor Adrian Tay, Stomp editor Azhar Kasman and Straits Times RazorTV deputy editor Geraldine Teo.
“We are very happy to welcome Eleven Media as our latest associate member within the ANN community,” Linnarz said. “The media situation in Myanmar is changing. I am sure that ANN, with its strong member newspapers from all over the region, can provide a lot of support and expertise, especially now, during the transition period.
“Because of the recent changes, credible information from
and about Myanmar finds a lot of attention among readers and audiences all over Asia and beyond. I am sure that the news exchange among the member newspapers about developments in Myanmar is going to improve a lot with Eleven Media Group being or new local partner.”
Established in 1999, ANN is a network of national daily newspapers published in Asian cities. It provides avenues for cooperation to optimise coverage of major news events in the region.
