Society of Publishers in Asia re-elects Terence Tung of One Media Group as Chairman

Diana David from Financial Times named Deputy Chairman

Hong Kong, December 22, 2009 – The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), an organization dedicated to best practices in professional publishing, has re-elected Mr. Terence Tung as its Chairman and named Ms. Diana David as its new Deputy Chairman.

Mr. Tung is Chief Executive Officer of One Media Group which publishes Ming Pao Weekly, Hi-Tech Weekly and Top Gear Hong Kong Edition in Hong Kong. It also operates MING, Popular Science China Edition and Top Gear China Edition on the mainland, as well as Ming Pao Weekly in Taiwan. He joined as the Sales Director of Ming Pao Magazines Group in September 1998.

Ms. David is Regional Circulation and Business Development Director at Financial Times Ltd., a position she has held since 2006. Previously she chaired the SOPA Professional Training and Events Sub-committee and spearheaded region-wide industry programs.

“I’m delighted and honored to have been elected Chairman of SOPA for another year,” said Mr. Tung. “The past year has been one of the most challenging ones as publishers sought to chart a course through the financial crisis and also deal with new technological developments impacting on the business.”

“2010 should bring better times with the upswing in the economic cycle. Collectively we are quite upbeat about prospects. Membership numbers for SOPA increased by 15 percent last year despite the downturn,” he said.

SOPA continues to expand its outreach programs in Asia including the hosting of its first “SOPA Media Summit” in Beijing last month. The landmark event under the theme “The Future of Publishing – New Platforms, New Technologies, New Models” brought together more than 150 senior executives from print, digital and mobile media groups, agencies, research and industry bodies from across China and the region.

Separately, the Society has just begun soliciting entries for the “SOPA 2010 Awards for Editorial Excellence”. The competition, which seeks to highlight the best of Asian journalism, will this year include a new award category for “Multimedia News Presentation” to cater for new innovations in journalism with a more specific intent to honor techniques that are increasingly integral to the profession. Last year’s awards received 547 entries from 97 publications.

The Society of Publishers in Asia has also conducted a series of “SOPA Media Insiders” events throughout the year in Hong Kong and Singapore including topics on new media, groundbreaking research and advertising strategies.

Mr. Tung welcomed the appointment of new Board representatives including Mr. Barrie Goodridge, CEO Asia for Edipresse Asia Limited, Mr. David E. Smith, Regional Director, Advertising & Sponsorship at The Economist Group (A/P) Ltd. and Mr. Shawn Hiltz, Director of Marketing, Asia at The Wall Street Journal Asia.

SOPA Board Officers re-appointed include Mr. Randy Weddle (Managing Director Asia/Pacific for International Herald Tribune (HK) Ltd.) as the Honorary Treasurer and Ms. Do Do Yeung (Managing Director and Publisher for Hachette Filipacchi Hong Kong Limited) as the Honorary Secretary.

For Sub-committees, Ms. Christina Lee (Asia Managing Director for BusinessWeek) has been appointed Chairman of the China Projects Group Sub-committee. Mr. David E. Smith will head the SOPA Publishers’ Ball Sub-committee and Ms. Alice Chai (Research Director for The Wall Street Journal Asia) will be in charge of the Research Sub-committee.