June 10-12: New Media Conference at JMSC

The JMSC will host a new media conference, co-sponsored and organised by the Asia Chapter of the Asian American Journalist Association, at The University of Hong Kong in mid-June.

Keynote speakers include Kristie LuStout, Anchor, CNN International; Kaiser Kuo, Director of International Communications, Baidu; Christine Chen, Communications Manager, Google; Andrew Lih, New Media Researcher and author of Wikipedia Revolution; Lorraine Hahn, former host, CNN’s Talk Asia.

The conference will kick off with a professional networking reception on Friday, June 10. This will be followed by an all-day conference on Saturday, June 11, in which a wide range of subjects will be discussed, including top tech tools, working within the great firewall of China and looking at lessons learned from the new media coverage of the recent tsunami in Japan.

Sunday, June 12 is reserved as a day for visiting conference members to explore Hong Kong under the guidance of local AAJA members.

The event is expected to attract journalists, editors and other media professionals from all over Asia.

“I’m really excited, because it’s the first time the AAJA is doing something like this in Asia,” said Ken Moritsugu, AAJA-Asia president. “It speaks to the continued growth of media in this region and the growing importance of Asia and the Asia story to the rest of the world.”

“I’m also excited to partner with the JMSC, which gives us access to the resources of one of the premier J-schools in Asia,” he said. “I hope this is the first of many such collaborations in the future.”

The AAJA is a U.S. based not-for-profit educational organisation launched in 1981 by a group of Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists and editors. The organisation now has more than 1,400 members in 21 chapters across the U.S. and Asia. The AAJA’s annual conference draws hundreds of journalists, editors and academics from all over the world.

“Our members in Asia are scattered over several countries, so they rarely get to meet,” said Moritsugu. “This conference will give them an opportunity to get together to network and take advantage of the terrific programming we’re putting together with the University of Hong Kong JMSC. We also want to introduce the AAJA to a wider audience in Asia.”

Attendance is free for all active, registered AAJA members, and for all others the cost is HK$100, which includes morning refreshments. Payments will be taken in cash in Hong Kong dollars at the conference.

To register send an e-mail to aajaasiaconference@gmail.com or e-mail conference co-chairs Allen T. Cheng allencheng@iihongkong.com and/or Ramy Inocencio at  ramy.inocencio@cnn.com.

For a full programme rundown and updates go to:  www.aajaasia.wordpress.com/conference or join the Facebook group.

Realtime coverage of the conference can be found on http://jmsc.hku.hk/sites/jmsc-aaja/