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Zaffar Abbas, editor of Pakistani newspaper Dawn
A1. Some of the countries and some of the newspapers have used reporting Asia by Asian newspapers in a big way, but not all of them. Some of the member newspapers believe that we know a lot about Asia, but the way the stories are written - say by a Pakistani newspaper - is mostly for a local audience. But if it is reproduced in China Daily, if it is reproduced in The Nation in Bangkok, people may not be able to relate to it in a major way. We need to write news stories in a different way, so that a wider audience in Asia can understand them.
A2. I can speak from my own experience of coming from the print media generation, and I did not take social media or new media very seriously. But a young crop of journalists have come in. They understand social media, they understand the need for social media, especially on the website dawn.com. In the coming years, there will be a much bigger challenge, and we need to be prepared for that.
A3. If you ask different people, they will have different answers. For me, one of the biggest challenges is how to present your case to the audience, whether it is about China, about Pakistan, India or elsewhere. If you ask somebody like me - I became an editor in the past few years and have been a reporter all my life - I think one of the biggest challenges is how we assess press freedom in each of our countries, and how we improve the quality of journalism. Good quality is needed - not just in terms of reporting, not just in terms of writing, but to tell the people what they need to know. If we increase the level of press freedom in Asia, this will probably be a big help.
A4. The last time there was an earthquake in Nepal, many ANN members got together, highlighted the issue and helped in the relief work. They told people across Asia of the aid Nepal required - so there are many areas in which collaboration can take place. If China's Belt and Road Initiative is given more publicity and more explanation in other Asian countries, it can tell them how important this project is and how it can bring economic prosperity to all of Asia.
A5. We are in the business of reporting politics, we are in the business of highlighting issues, whether there is a conflict between Pakistan and India, tension between Pakistan and Bangladesh, tension between Japan and China, or many of the countries, we report those issues. We try not to take sides in these matters. But we can present the point of view of both sides, and let the people decide. ... So we try to do that, but we avoid taking sides.
