Singapore – Regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia has opened a news bureau in Myanmar. It is one of two broadcasters to be given a licence to operate a news bureau. Based in Yangon, the bureau will add to the depth of the channel’s coverage of the region with its network of offices in 14 key cities in Asia.

Correspondent May Wong, a broadcast journalist with 17 years of experience, has been filing stories from Myanmar since early this year. She will continue to unravel the stories and provide the perspectives from a country where political and economic reforms are being rolled out.

With Myanmar opening up after half a century of isolation, the channel is behind her to create a better understanding of what is happening in the country and to help audiences across Asia come to grips with the changes unfolding and their implications for the rest of the region and worldwide. Recent coverage on Channel NewsAsia includes the channel’s interviews with President Thein Sein, who gave his first international television interview with its Indochina correspondent in July 2012; Speaker of Parliament Thura U Shwe Mann in September 2012; Myanmar’s by-election in April 2012 was covered from Yangon, Mandalay, Kawhmu and Naypyidaw.

In May 2013, Channel NewsAsia screened a 6-part series, The New Myanmar, giving insights into the country’s transformation from people who experienced it first hand – business leaders, policy makers, artists, journalists, activists, conservationists and the ordinary people.

Managing Director, Debra Soon says, “We are extremely excited about being one of the first broadcasters to be granted a bureau licence. Myanmar is beginning to see phenomenal reforms since sanctions were lifted. With international investors and tourists alike flocking there to take advantage of the abundant opportunities, we want to be able to capture all these developments right at the source, and to show the historic moments on the channel for the rest of Asia and elsewhere. It is consistent with our plans to bring insights about Asia to the world and the world to Asia.”

As much as the world needs to know about the new Myanmar, Channel NewsAsia wants to be closer to the Myanmar audience so that there is better understanding of what is happening in other parts of Asia, Europe and the U.S.

There are plans to bring the channel’s Business Insights seminar series to Yangon early next year.The series engages think tanks, government and business leaders who bring the latest and very dynamic conversations to the table. These will offer opportunities not only to businesses, but to the people of Myanmar, as it creates more understanding of the issues, concerns and opportunities in the country. 

The Business Insights series made a successful debut in Jakarta in August 2013, and will also be hosted in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh.