REPORT: Notes from Reginald Chua, J’88, talk - SPJ
NOTES FROM…SPJ Evening with Reginald Chua
Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2005
By Megan Chan
E-mail: mhc2111@columbia.edu
An Evening with Reginald Chua J’88,
Society of Professional Journalists, Columbia University Chapter
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Room 607a
October 4, 2005, 5-6:30 p.m.
Background: Editor, Asian WSJ, formerly worked at Reuters, Manila correspondent for WSJ, opened WSJ bureau in Hanoi, Vietnam, Singapore native; Columbia J-school, J’88. See full bio below.
Chua thought that journalists don’t understand their business very well; we should be experts on the media and not just the topics we cover.
Foreign correspondents, if they really want to cover how the world has changed for Asians, should look at how the economy has gone from rice paddy fields to the Internet in just one generation.
Keep in mind for the next day’s coverage: “Don’t assume that nobody has read your story because the Internet moves so quickly.”
On charging for access: “Free news is insane. When news is your product, why put it up there for free.”
AWSJ is moving to a tabloid format and will better integrate the print and online content.
Recommendations for getting a job: have a five-year plan, plan ahead for the next one or two jobs, have at least 2/3 layers of knowledge: local, topical and publication, three or four solid clips.
In terms of surviving J-School: make mistakes, take chances and write stories outside of
your comfort zone.
CHUA BIO:
About Mr. Chua:
Reginald Chua is the editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal,
responsible for the paper’s news operations. He became editor in
August 1997, just as the Asian financial crisis was sweeping the
region, and steered the paper’s award-winning coverage of that
upheaval and its aftermath. The following years have been no less
tumultuous, with the Asian Journal covering such key stories as the
growth of China’s economic and political might, the rising threat of
terrorism in South and Southeast Asia, and the impact of SARS.
During his tenure as editor, staff at the paper have won a Pulitzer
Prize, an Overseas Press Club of America award, and numerous honors
from the Society of Publishers in Asia, including the award for
excellence in English-language newspapers four times. Reg joined
the Asian Journal in 1993, serving first as its Manila
correspondent before moving to Vietnam to open the paper’s Hanoi
bureau in October 1995.
He moved to Hong Kong in early 1997 as Deputy Managing Editor.
Prior to joining the Asian Journal, he worked in Singapore for the
Reuters news agency and the then-Singapore Broadcasting Corp. (now
Television Corp. of Singapore); he was also the Manila
correspondent for The Straits Times newspaper. A native of
Singapore, Reg served in the Singapore Armed Forces and worked
briefly as a computer programmer. He holds a master’s degree in
journalism from Columbia University and received a bachelor’s
degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago. He graduated
from high school in the Philippines and is married with two
children. Founded in 1976, the Hong Kong-based Asian Wall Street
Journal is an 80,000-circulation daily printed in 9 cities around
the region: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur,
Seoul, Taipei,Manila and Jakarta. The Asian Journal has a news
staff of more than 60 journalists in 15 cities around Asia.
