Pinoy Buzz soon at Asian Correspondent!

In a few days, Asian Correspondent will be the new home of Pinoy Buzz and this blog will be read by more readers all over the world.

Asian Correspondent is a news website that focuses on developments mainly in Asia and other parts of the world. This pioneering website is unique as it matches up news from various countries in the Asia with the perspective of bloggers. This is probably why the name of the company behind this online publication, Hybrid News, seems so apt.

Sanj, my content manager at Asian Correspondent, tells me that the website is still  in “Alpha mode,” meaning that the site is constructed and undergoing vigorous testing to ensure that we provide the smoothest and most efficient visiting experience. Sanj says that the site will have its“Beta” launch on Monday, 19th of October, which is centred around user testing.

I think, in a way, Asian Correspondent will be a successful attempt at a fuller, richer reportage by fusing the strengths of traditional journalism and citizen journalism.

In the Philippines, it is becoming more apparent that citizen journalism in the form of blogging has become more and more influential.  Recent events have born this out, with bloggers leading traditional news organizations in spotting the developments that become the day's headlines.  Bloggers have become somewhat of a barometer and compass that tells news organizations what developments really matter.

However, bloggers in the Philippines have also had a somewhat strained relationship with traditional media, especially with regard to plagiarism -- where content generated by bloggers have been used by traditional news organizations without the proper source attribution.  This door swings both ways as certain bloggers have consistently come out with skewed and sometimes completely false accounts -- which is also seen as a recurring problem with certain news media organizations.

Asian Correspondent presents news developments culled from various perspectives and gives its readers not just information but a richer, fuller EXPERIENCE of what is happening in the world around them.