CNA launches in North America as part of international expansion
CNA’s content is available for North American viewers on a curated edition of the website, a live YouTube stream, and will soon be on television.
Singapore Ambassador to the United States Lui Tuck Yew (sixth from right) and Mediacorp’s editor-in-chief Walter Fernandez (sixth from left) with CNA correspondents and contributors during CNA's North American launch in Washington DC on Jun 13, 2024. (Photo: CNA)
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WASHINGTON DC: CNA launched in North America on Thursday (Jun 13) as part of its international expansion plans amid efforts to grow its global audience.
CNA is now available for the North American audience on a curated edition of the website and a live YouTube stream.
Viewers will also be able to watch CNA on a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel within the next 12 months.
The broadcaster offers viewers the latest news from Asia, as well as award-winning documentaries and current affairs programmes.
About 200 guests, including members of the United States Congress, academia, business leaders and think tanks attended the event at the Willard InterContinental hotel, located just two blocks away from the White House, in Washington DC.
Singapore Ambassador to the United States Lui Tuck Yew, who was at the event, said CNA’s expansion into North America comes at a timely moment, during an election year in America and complex geopolitical ties across the globe.
“CNA can provide an alternative that offers a more nuanced and contextualised understanding of the complexities we (in Asia) face, as well as the sensitivities, the challenges and the relationships in our part of the world,” he said during the launch.
Mediacorp’s editor-in-chief Walter Fernandez said he was “thrilled” to bring CNA’s diverse range of content, told from an Asian perspective, to the North American audience. CNA is owned by Mediacorp, Singapore's national media network.
“CNA offers timely ground reporting and nuanced analysis of Asia through its news bulletins and documentaries, helping a global audience to understand Asia,” he said.
“Against the backdrop of AI-fuelled disinformation campaigns, coupled with a worrying habit of news avoidance, having high quality and trusted media sources which the public and global decision makers can turn to is paramount.”
AWARD-WINNING PROGRAMMING
At the launch, CNA showcased exclusive award-winning content that viewers in North America will soon be seeing on their screens.
Producers also shared behind-the-scenes experiences and offered insider perspectives on their stories.
Among the screenings was ‘Walk The Line’, a multi-part documentary on the treacherous route taken by Chinese migrants across South and Central America to enter the US illegally via its southern border, hoping to live the American dream.
“This is really a story that ties the two biggest and most powerful countries in the world together in one story,” said CNA correspondent and the documentary’s producer Wei Du.
“When we put the documentary on YouTube, a sizeable portion of the viewers came from the US, so we understand there is a lot of hunger in this market for content about Asia, and now we have this opportunity to showcase it to a greater audience.”
The launch event was hosted and moderated by CNA contributors and correspondents and will be advertised across the capital city this week.
Apart from Walk The Line, content available on CNA for North American viewers include:
- Daily news updates from the Asian region on the Asia Tonight programme and an in-depth look into developments from Greater China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula on East Asia Tonight programme.
- Insight – An acclaimed investigative documentary that analyses political, social and economic issues impacting Asia and the rest of the world.
- The Great Migration: A New Eden – A programme showcasing a year-long journey with a team of specialists moving 3,500 birds into Asia’s largest bird park in Singapore. The programme won the gold award at the World Media Festivals.
- Preparing For Dangerous Storms: Inside the People’s Liberation Army – A three-part series on the world’s largest army taking measures to ensure technology, energy, and food self-sufficiency in China. The documentary won the gold award for best documentary in the global issues category at the World Media Festivals.
CNA’S INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
CNA was established in March 1999. The news channel has correspondents in 15 major cities across Asia, and is supported by 23 bureaus in North America, Europe, and Africa.
Mediacorp, during CNA’s 25th anniversary celebration in March, announced plans to scale up growth and reach new audiences in regional and international markets.
“We are making deliberate inroads in these regions because surveys have shown there is a significant audience in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom who are hungry for news and documentaries about Asia – in particular, China, Japan, and Korea,” said chairman Niam Chiang Meng.
Mediacorp said CNA fills a crucial gap in the North American market by delivering authentic narratives and firsthand perspectives from the Asian region, with an aim to enrich audiences' understanding of Asia.
This includes in-depth coverage of the region’s political scene, business developments, lifestyle trends as well as human-interest features which reflect the diversity of Asia.
Earlier this year, CNA launched its FAST channel in the UK with six hours of programming repeated throughout the day with news updates, in-depth current affairs content, and documentaries.
