30 years on Asiavision continues to grow
More than 60 ABU members from 23 countries attended the opening of the 30th Anniversary meeting of Asiavision in Malaysia.
Mr Sedrick Ahn, Director of ABU News, welcomed delegates to Kuala Lumpur and said collective wisdom and consensus would pave the way in their search for answers to pressing problems facing them.
“We gather together every year to find practical answers through discussion in order to make AVN a competitive news exchange network,” he said.
Mr Ahn briefed delegates on achievements and future plans, including the successful Global News Forum in Seoul in 2013, to be followed by a second GNF in Japan in 2015. He also mentioned that the number of AVN Members had increased from 23 two years ago to 28, while the target was to reach 30 by the end of 2014.
Although he had hoped the number of items exchanged would exceed 10,000 a year, he said the success of Asiavision’s cloud-based exchange platform was a sign of real progress.
The afternoon was given over to a workshop with the Union’s AVN coordinators and members of UNI-Apro in Asia to discuss how broadcasters handle natural and man-made disasters. Mr Ian Bull, who managed operations for Radio New Zealand through the Christchurch earthquakes, facilitated the session.
Some 90 participants from ABU member broadcasters participated in the workshops, during which ABU Senior Project Manager Ms Olya Booyar ran a session on tools and resources available for journalists and the media to prepare for working through disasters, in conflicts and other crises. This included a verification handbook that takes broadcasters step-by-step through how to verify the reliability of social media and user-generated content in times of disaster and conflict.