Fabian Wagener, the director of the KAS Media Programme Asia, said in his opening remarks that KAS’ mission has remained clear: “To foster a free, responsible, and ethical press across the region – a commitment that remains at the very core of KAS work today.”

KAS was founded in 1996, and Thomas Stehling, founding director of the KAS Media Programme Asia, was also in attendance at the event.

“The overarching goal of our work as the Media Program Asia is to support an ethical press, to promote young talents on their way into journalism, and to bridge continents by connecting leading Asian journalists with partners in Germany and across Europe,” said Wagener.

Christian Echle, the head of KAS’ Asia-Pacific Department, said that the media landscape today has become vastly different from 30 years ago. Before, the question was how to get information to the public; today, it is increasingly about establishing which information the public can trust.

Echle said that KAS’ role in the foundation is to offer opportunities, connections, platforms, and support, and it is this understanding of partnership that has guided the KAS Media Programme Asia for the past 30 years.

“The fundamental ambition of the program is to promote free, responsible, and ethical journalism, to strengthen professional standards, and to connect media professionals across national borders. I believe one of the program’s greatest achievements is that it has remained faithful to its mission while constantly adapting to a changing world,” Echle said.

KAS Media Programme Asia helped in the establishment of the Asia News Network (ANN) in 1999. ANN is an alliance of twenty leading newspapers across Southeast, East, and South Asia, working together to cover the defining stories of the region.

ANN chairperson and Star Media Group chief content officer Esther Ng emphasized that journalists and editors at the conference may be different in terms of the type of media houses and the political, economic, and cultural environments they belong to.

However, they are similar as editors facing the same geopolitical tensions, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence, along with climate change and economic uncertainties.

Despite all these, the journalists and editors present serve the Asian public, many of whom share the same hopes, concerns, and dreams.

“At the heart of it all, Asians want to live in societies where their voices are not pushed aside, where their identities are respected and where progress is shared all round,” she said.

Ng said the ANN’s partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation reflects a shared conviction that journalism can play an important role in bringing people and an entire continent together. More than exchanging content or sharing headlines, she said, ANN’s mission is to bring Asia closer.

“We need to remind everyone that [Asians] are not part of someone else’s narrative; we’re the authors of our own. This is where ANN comes in. We dictate our own narrative. Here is where we shift the discourse because here, we tell our own stories from our own backyard."

Editor's note: The Jakarta Post is a cofounder and member of Asia News Network. 

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