The big surprise about the launch of new news programmes on Star TV is that it did not happen earlier. It is extraordinary that until recently a pan-Asian satellite service owned by the world's most powerful news mogul did not include news and analysis as a major part of its programming.
Star World's policy of steering clear of news and all its attendant controversy began to change about a year ago when it introduced its daily five-minute bulletin AsiaNews Update and 30-minute analysis AsiaNews Sunday. Five minutes for the whole of Asia, though, has been woefully inadequate, especially since viewers have had to put up with many more minutes of largely irrelevant domestic news from Rupert Murdoch's London-based Sky and New York-based Fox services.
Now it is further waking up to the fact that it is broadcasting to an Asian audience hungry for news and probing analysis. Today's Update has been replaced by Star News Asia (Star World, 7pm), a 30-minute wrap of the day's regional news. This follows yesterday's launch of the highly promising one-hour weekly current affairs programme Star News Focus Asia, which replaces AsiaNews Sunday.
Fronting these news programmes will be several anchors and reporters familiar to Hong Kong viewers, including Mark Niu, who has moved from TVB; Susan Yu, from ATV; Jennifer Lee, from RTHK; and Star's own Joe Kainz. This is a bonus for local viewers, though those further afield will want to see faces that represent a broader range of cultures.
Star News Asia will include contributions from the sister networks of Sky and Fox. But Jim Laurie, Star's vice-president of News and Current Affairs, assures us that his Hong Kong-based news department will select the items and give priority to those of regional relevance. There will also be that all-important financial news from Bloomberg.
Star News Focus Asia got off to a strong start yesterday with lively, eye-opening reports on a range of issues.
