“People are tired of having to read the Economist to get news on Asia,” said Stella Borromeo Arthur, CEO of Asia360°. Apparently, this was the sentiment that spurred the founding of the weekly magazine, which is poised to soon make its proper debut.
Since the drawn-out demise of the Far Eastern Economic Review late last year, a gap has opened in the market for an Asian-centric periodical, which Asia360° is seeking to take advantage offill. Coverage in 26 countries has been promised, from India eastwards to Australia and Japan.
The Singapore-based editorial team have published a preview copy and their website is online, plus they are in the middle of a road-show that will introduce the magazine to several locations across Asia.
Kuala Lumpur was the second destination, and the launch took place last Tuesday at The White Box, an art gallery in Solaris Dutamas.
Along with Arthur, Editor-in-chief Goh Chien Yen was also present. He mentioned that there was a need to cover Asian realities for an Asian audience. “Asia is diverse, with different cultures and languages,” he also said. “But we are united by the English language.”
The core of their system is “‘The NewsLab,”’ which uses a set of information metrics that sieves through local news sources to identify the most topical content, before displaying it with a neat infograph. They presumably use this system for all the countries covered, but have published findings for just five so far: Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and South Korea.
Although their preview copy includes some feature articles, and their intention is to include analysis from leading thinkers, much of the material can easily be found by searching local news sites directly.
However, Asia360° is playing on the convenience factor by presenting the entire region’s news in one package. They are aiming to be a “‘one-stop shop”’ for Asian news, and are clearly intending to be thought of more as an aggregator rather than an original source.
Interestingly, Asia360° has opted for print as well as online distribution. Arthur insists there is a solid rationale behind sticking with the physical format, and that rumours of the demise of print have been greatly exaggerated. “If it saves time, readers will still subscribe to print,” she said. They are aiming for a circulation of a quarter of a million and upwards, which they claim would beat the combined readership of AsiaWeek and the Far Eastern Economic Review.
It will remain to be seen if they can succeed where those two did not.
P.S. I’d also like to point out that The White Box is full of interesting paintings by local artists, and the corridors outside are festooned with cool sculptures.
