Media

Overview

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) is an intergovernmental, not-for-profit organisation which brings together the people of Asia and Europe to address common global challenges. It is the only permanent institution of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) political dialogue Process and is publicly funded by voluntary contributions from 53 ASEM Partners.

Media is one of ASEF’s seven key thematic areas. ASEF’s work in Media is managed by its Communications Department, which runs ASEM-wide projects and is also responsible for ASEF’s corporate and strategic communications. We engage media industry stakeholders in annual events enabling a diverse exchange of perspectives. We also facilitate dialogue and cooperation by managing ASEF’s multiple online platforms that aim to increase awareness of ASEF and its projects spanning all thematic areas. In serving both purposes of our department’s dual nature, we manage ASEM’s official information platform, the ASEMInfoBoard.

Our Work

Media Projects

We organise two project series, each taking place on alternate years:

• The ASEF Editors’ Roundtable (ASEFERT)takes place alongside the ASEM Summits;
• The ASEF Journalists’ Seminar (ASEFJS)takes place alongside the ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meetings (ASEM FMMs).

In 2019, ASEFJS12 was a training-oriented event focused on addressing young journalists’ needs and challenges by providing them with the tools needed to tackle disinformation in the digital age (13-14 December 2019, Madrid, Spain). In addition, participants took part in the official press conference of the 14th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (ASEMFMM14). At ASEMFMM14, “Ministers commended the work of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) in strengthening people-to-people exchanges between Europe and Asia through… the 12th ASEF Journalists’ Seminar” (page 5, Chair’s Statement)

In 2018, alongside the 12th ASEM Summit (ASEM12), ASEFERT9 gathered media professionals, policy makers, the private sector and civil society representatives to exchange experiences on dealing with ‘fake news’ (15-16 October 2018, Brussels, Belgium). 

ASEM InfoBoard

We oversee ASEM’s official information platform, the ASEMInfoBoard, which highlights key ASEM Processes including Leaders’ Summits, Foreign Ministers’ Meetings and other ASEM Ministerial Meetings. We also send out the ASEM monthly eNewsletter, which provide the latest updates on ASEM events and news about Asia-Europe relations.

ASEF Corporate and Strategic Communications

We manage ASEF’s main website, multiple social media platforms, annual report and monthly eNewsletters in increasing awareness of ASEF’s work spanning seven different thematic areas. We are also taking the lead to develop an integrated ASEF Digital Ecosystem, an inter-department project to enhance and synchronise the organisation’s digital tools, websites, social media platforms and e-programmes.  This will add another feature to ASEF’s activities, as well as complement fully ASEF’s regular projects and programmes.