Mr. Walter Sim, Japan Correspondent of The Straits Times and Ms. Michiyo Ishida, Senior Correspondent of CNA Japan were invited to speak to Keizai Koho Center member companies.

Mr. Walter Sim began by introducing SPH Media. He explained that The Straits Times is one of the 8 newspapers of SPH Media and that it is a mass market newspaper which is most-read in Singapore. Although business stories are not his core focus, he stated that as a general guiding principle, he focuses on companies that have a certain level of brand recognition overseas, have pioneering or groundbreaking innovations and technologies that they can showcase to the media, or are pacesetters to a wider trend. He also said that if companies are unable to set the trend, they can ride on prevailing trends.

Ms. Michiyo Ishida shared her perspectives and long experience in covering Japan as a TV reporter for CNA Japan. She explained that what she values in her reporting is to provide the world with Asian news from a neutral Asian perspective that is not biased toward the U.S. or China. She shared how she works to prepare for live interviews and feature stories, which sometimes take months to produce.

Both journalists agreed that company press tours can be helpful if companies are willing to show things that they ordinarily would not be able to see, even if the tour is not exclusive to one media.