What Shenzhen taught me about the future of Asia-Pacific media

The second takeaway is that artificial intelligence is no longer a topic for the IT department. It shapes what audiences see, how newsrooms survive and whose stories get told. The forum's cooperation initiative rests on three pillars: technology sharing, joint content creation, and talent cultivation, with plans for an Asia-Pacific Digital & Smart Media Intelligence Shenzhen Center. For media houses across South Asia, many of which struggle to monetize digital audiences, shared tools and training are not a luxury. They may be the difference between relevance and decline.

The third conviction, and the one I stressed in my own remarks, is that the Asia-Pacific must stop outsourcing its narrative. For too long, our societies have learned about one another through intermediaries far removed from our realities. Pakistan and China, for instance, share a relationship of extraordinary depth, yet much of what global audiences hear about China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is framed elsewhere. Joint reporting, co-produced content and exchanges between young journalists can change that. When a reporter from Islamabad and a reporter from Shenzhen investigate a story together, both audiences gain a fuller picture.