The celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Asia News Network last week served as an occasion for a great sector of the Asian media to examine themselves and to discuss the challenges that lie ahead.

The ANN, an association of 20 newspapers in 17 countries, was founded in 1999 to reduce dependency on Western news agencies and to give the readers the Asian perspective. Starting from seven newspapers with a readership of seven million, it has increased to 20 member-newspapers with a readership of 30 million.

The ANN operates in what is the most vibrant and most dynamic region in the world. Asia and the Pacific accounts for nearly 56 percent of the world?s population and for over one-third of the global domestic product. Kishore Mabubhani, author of ?The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Power to the East,? says that Asia and Asians are ?reclaiming the prominent role they played before the surge of Western industrial and imperial power over the last two centuries.?

In Asia, the media exhibited amazing growth before the global economic meltdown occurred. The World Association of Newspapers last June said that three of the largest markets for newspapers are in Asia: China with 107 million copies sold daily; India with 99 million copies; and Japan, with 68 million copies. Last Feb. 19 Hannah Beech, in an article on time.com said, ?Fueled by a growing literacy rate and press reforms in some parts of the continent, Asia is enjoying what may be the world?s last great newspaper boom.?

But in the wake of the global financial crisis, all this optimism is being tempered. In most Asian countries, newspaper circulation is declining and advertising revenue is down. The member-newspapers of ANN, like other newspapers in the world, will have to reinvent themselves and look for new business models that will help them survive in an unfavorable economic environment.

They will also have to revise their editorial models to better meet the needs of their readers. A study made by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2007 said that as rapid changes in technology make the Web more reader-friendly, more and more people are turning to the Internet in their search for daily news. Convergence now appears to be the name of the game.

A more liberal political environment in many Asian countries could also help greatly in increasing readership of newspapers and other media in the continent and help them weather the storm of the current global financial crisis.

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Reputation for excellence

We felicitate Ayala Corp., the country?s oldest and most respected business house, as it celebrates its 175th anniversary this year. Ayala, a model of solid management, financial stability and pioneering innovation, has contributed a lot to the economic development of the nation in the past two centuries.

Established in 1834 as Casa Roxas, Ayala engaged in diverse businesses ranging from sugar to mining. It introduced the tranvia (streetcar system) to Manila in the late 1880s. In 1970 it established Insular Life Assurance Co., the first Filipino life insurance firm. It put up the first industrial life insurance company, Filipinas Life, in 1933, the Bank of the Philippine Islands in 1970, and with Globe Mackay Cable & Radio Corp., Globe Telecommunications in 1974.

Its most audacious business venture was the development of the former Hacienda San Pedro de Makati into the country?s premier commercial and residential district. In all the business ventures it has entered, Ayala has established a name for excellence. It has also blazed a path in corporate social responsibility, nurturing the Filipino culture and way of life, and funding and developing programs to support schools, charities, livelihood projects and cultural programs.

In a recent interview, Jaime Fernando Zobel de Ayala II, Ayala Corp. CEO, said it has set the overarching tone of leadership across the group. ?The values that have continued across generations revolve around building and maintaining trust across a variety of stakeholder groups and aligning ourselves to progressive national development goals.?

Ayala Corp. has truly shown that business is not just about money; it is also about promoting values that help in the social and economic development of the nation.