In this episode of Splice Pink, we speak with Yolanda Ma, a lecturer at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong. ChatGPT describes her as “an influential figure in the fields of digital policy and global partnerships.” We agree. Yolanda has a vast career in international development, data, and journalism, and recently won approval to make AI training a mandatory subject for the masters program in journalism. In this podcast, she talks about why she pushed for it, a...
May 17, 2024•18 min•Ep. 39
Philippine journalist Beatrice Go launched Atleta Filipina in January 2024 — a feat for the sports reporter turned solo media entrepreneur. Atleta Filipina serves as a beacon for women's sports in the Philippines, or, as she put it in this interview, "the purpose is for women to have a future in sports." She spoke about how the first couple of months have gone, the needs she wants to meet, and some of the partnerships she's trying to forge. Connect with Beatrice on LinkedIn Subscribe to Atleta F...
Apr 03, 2024•18 min•Ep. 38
Three years ago, disappointed with the legacy media landscape, Kassy Cho started Almost, an Instagram-first news startup focused on young people. The Taipei-based journalist saw an opportunity to deliver news to both Chinese and English audiences who were left underserved — and ignored — by mainstream media. In this episode, she spoke to us about the opportunities to serve younger audiences and ways to monetise that. Follow Almost on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/almost.co/ Connect with Ka...
Feb 16, 2024•20 min•Ep. 37
Exile Hub started soon after the coup in Myanmar when hundreds of journalists started flowing across into Thailand for refuge. Exile Hub's multifaceted approach includes psychosocial support, offering shelter and mental health services, as well as personal safety, border safety, and digital safety workshops. At Splice Beta 2023, December Khaing talked about the organisation’s work and the challenges faced by Myanmar’s journalists living in exile. Connect with December on LinkedIn...
Jan 08, 2024•34 min•Ep. 36
In response to the rise of fake news on social media, Philippine media startup Probe launched a fact-checking campaign called Tsek/Eks. To engage the younger demographic, they collaborated with influencers, in an initiative that was unheard of in the media space. The fact-checking campaign leaned on Probe's archives, leveraging historical videos to debunk misinformation. At Beta, Jen Aquino, the company’s managing director, talked about how Probe's fact-checking efforts gained recognition, which...
Jan 08, 2024•38 min•Ep. 35
TNL MediaGene, formerly the News Lens, is a case study in strategic media company acquisitions. Over the past four and a half years, they executed nine acquisitions — averaging one every six months. Originally focused on independent digital news in Taiwan, they expanded across Asia and recognised the need to pivot as growth plateaued. This led to a transformation into a media group, acquiring smaller verticals and diversifying into MarTech, AdTech, and data analytics. The company now boasts 29 m...
Nov 28, 2023•48 min•Ep. 34
In his recent session at Splice Beta 2023 , Tanmoy Goswami shares his entrepreneurial journey, highlighting the evolution of his mental health storytelling platform, Sanity by Tanmoy . The article summarizes key points from the transcript, emphasising the challenges and successes in building a unique and impactful venture. Tanmoy begins by recounting the inception of Sanity by Tanmoy, a Substack newsletter born out of a tumultuous period in December 2020. Despite initial skepticism, the platform...
Nov 28, 2023•44 min•Ep. 33
We're featuring some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022! What's holding you back from starting a YouTube channel? In this episode, Mongolian creator Anu Harchu explains how you can start a YouTube channel today. Subscribe to Anu on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/AnuHarchu Connect with Anu on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anuharchu/
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 32
In December 2022, Colombo-based Himal Southasian appointed Roman Gautam as its chief editor. Six months into the job, he spoke with Splice's Alan Soon and Rishad Patel about how he plans to get the right membership strategy in place for the South Asia region. Read Himal SouthAsian https://www.himalmag.com/ Follow Roman on Twitter https://twitter.com/romangautam Learn about MDIF's Amplify Asia program https://www.mdif.org/our-work/initiatives/amplify-asia/ Find out more about Splice https://www.s...
May 17, 2023•21 min•Ep. 31
We're featuring some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022! In this episode, we learn from Jacopo Ottaviani of Code for Africa about how to write an amazing grant application… and what to do when it all goes pear-shaped. Connect with Jacopo on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacopo-ottaviani/ Learn more about Code for Africa https://github.com/CodeForAfrica/ More about Splice https://www.splicemedia.com/ Join us at the next Splice Beta http://splicebeta.com/...
May 15, 2023•36 min•Ep. 30
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. Hear from PumaPodcast's Carl Javier, who spoke about the importance of listening to your audience... but more importantly, what to do when you realize that what you create isn’t what they come to you for. This is an important lesson on how to create true value for your users. Connect with Carl on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/carljoe-javier/ Learn more about PumaPodcast and their shows https://www.pumapodcast.com/ Rea...
May 11, 2023•30 min•Ep. 29
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. In this pod, meet Koreel Lahiri, the Investment Director for Asia at the Media Development Investment Fund. He talks about how to build a business plan for potential investment, and how to operationalize it. Connect with Koreel on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/koreel/ Learn more about MDIF and their work https://www.mdif.org/...
May 08, 2023•38 min•Ep. 28
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. In this pod, Splice's co-founder Rishad Patel talks about the importance of getting your About page right, and how to use that to actually explain what your business does. This is how you put your mission front and center. Read Rishad's article https://www.splicemedia.com/stories/is-your-about-page-even-about-you Connect with Rishad on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishadpatel/ More about Splice Beta http://splicebeta...
May 02, 2023•41 min•Ep. 27
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. In this episode, Woody Milintachinda, the creator and founder of the hit Woody World talks about his strategy around short videos -- what works and what doesn't. He also spoke about team organization and logistics behind the scenes. Woody was joined on stage by Pacharapun Petch Tinnabal and Sorradithep Champ Supachanya of Meta, the sponsor of this session at Beta. Follow Woody on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/woodytalk...
Apr 25, 2023•41 min•Ep. 26
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. This episode features Sonny Swe, the founder of Frontier Myanmar. After the coup in his country, Sonny pulled his newsroom out of Myanmar and rebuilt the business in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is how he did it. Connect with Sonny on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnyswe/ Read and support the work of Frontier https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/ More on Splice Beta, our annual celebration of media startups http://splicebe...
Apr 21, 2023•39 min•Ep. 25
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. This episode features Jakub Parusinski, the co-founder of The Kyiv Independent . He joined us at Beta to speak about how his team of journalists was fired from the Kyiv Post , reunited, and went on to build the most important media startup covering Ukrainian war. Connect with Jakub on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubparusinski/ Read and support the work of the Kyiv Independent https://kyivindependent.com/ More on S...
Apr 17, 2023•39 min•Ep. 24
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. This episode features Asia-based freelance journalists Kirsten Han and Nithin Coca talking about the freelancing industry and how to build your personal brand and work. This session is especially useful if you're looking for ways to improve your pitches and credibility in freelance work. Connect with Kirsten on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsten-han-3466a8230/ Connect with Nithin on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.co...
Apr 10, 2023•30 min•Ep. 23
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. This episode features Styli Charalambous, the co-founder and CEO, of Daily Maverick. He spoke about how the newsroom distilled their mission and turned that into an operational plan to deliver news to their supporters. If you're struggling with getting your organization around a purpose, this session could be useful for you. Connect with Styli on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/stylicharalambous/ Support Daily Maverick ...
Apr 04, 2023•54 min•Ep. 22
We're putting together some of the best sessions from Splice Beta 2022. This episode features Nishant Lalwani, the CEO of the International Fund for Public Interest Media, which exists to enable media to work for democracy. Nishant spoke to why the fund was necessary now, and discussed the gaps between the funding that journalism needs — and what has so far been available. Connect with Nishant on LinkedIn See the IFPIM website More on Splice Beta...
Mar 16, 2023•46 min•Ep. 21
We're rounding up some of the best sessions we've had at Splice Beta 2022. This episode features Zara Seidler, the co-founder of The Daily Aus, which is a media startup based in Sydney. Zara talks about how TDA has built a modern news business for young people on Instagram, where they have more than 430,000 followers. The Daily Aus began as a passion project created by two 20-year-olds with no resources. It was meant to provide a starting point for Aussies who wanted to get into the habit of rea...
Feb 21, 2023•44 min•Ep. 20
Jom has been on the Singapore media scene for less than five months. The digital magazine, as its co-founder Sudhir Vadaketh explains, is trying to fill a unique position in explaining Singapore through a critical eye to both local and foreign audiences. Perhaps more interestingly, it's on the scene at a time when government agencies are more open to engaging with small and independent media startups. Find out more about Jom https://www.jom.media/ Join as a member https://www.jom.media/membershi...
Jan 25, 2023•25 min•Ep. 19
Anupama Chandrasekaran is an audio documentary producer at Newsreel Asia , based in Chennai. She specialises in sound-rich, character-driven audio stories. Anupama has worked across newsrooms in Mumbai, New York, Hong Kong, and Chennai. We spoke about the opportunities behind audio stories and the challenges of building a documentary business -- and how her work is framed by her experience as an economics teacher. Connect with Anupama on LinkedIn...
Nov 24, 2022•26 min•Ep. 18
Devina Heriyanto is the membership manager at Project Multatuli , a public service journalism collective in Indonesia. In this Splice Pink episode, we spoke with Devina shortly after we met her at Splice Beta in Chiang Mai in November 2022. She talked us through the intricacies of bringing ‘depressing’ reporting around marginalised peoples to a community that supports Project M’s mission. We got a sense of that mission when we asked Devina to describe their core members. “It's people like me,” s...
Nov 11, 2022•25 min•Ep. 17
What makes a creator different from a journalist? On our latest Splice Pink episode, we spoke with Amanda Cua, a newsletter media creator in the Philippines. Her daily email — BackScoop — keeps you updated on the top stories in tech and business in Southeast Asia. She doesn’t call herself a journalist. “One big focus I have is distribution. And I don’t think that most journalists have that in their job description. How do I get this to more people? What kind of platform should I be using?” Liste...
Aug 04, 2022•22 min•Ep. 16
Myanmar's media, fleeing the military's crackdown on journalists, have found a new home in Chiang Mai. Over the past year, parts of the media ecosystem — journalists, newsrooms, funders — have re-established their operations the northern Thai city. The creation of this new hub represents an important milestone for this region. For the first time, we're seeing an ecosystem built around media startups coming together in Southeast Asia. Splice's co-founder Alan Soon was on a road trip with Sonny Sw...
Feb 22, 2022•13 min•Ep. 15
Coconuts just turned 10. The online publisher, which puts out city guides across Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bali, and Yangon, has been pushing forward into new formats such as broadcast and streaming platforms. We spoke with Byron Perry, the founder and CEO of Coconuts about the decade of lessons he's had in building one of Asia's most recognizable media startups. They're finally making a profit this year. We picked his brains about fund raising, branding, expa...
Nov 12, 2021•30 min•Ep. 14
Eugene Kan co-founded MAEKAN in 2016 in Hong Kong after leaving Hypebeast where he was the editorial director. MAEKAN's goal is to celebrate creative culture, and it does that through articles, podcasts, and more recently, an e-commerce store. We talked with Eugene about the changing subculture lifestyle market, and the media and fans who support it. Check out MAEKAN here Follow Eugene Kan on Twitter...
Aug 26, 2021•38 min•Ep. 13
The School of Splice is coming together! It's everything you need to build a media startup today. It's all audio, and packs insights from all around this wonderful Splice community. Knowledge, network, funding -- all in one place. The program rolls out next month. Find out more here. http://schoolofsplice.com/
Aug 05, 2021•2 min
In this episode, we're talking with Simon Vincent, a journalist-turned-game-developer. Simon is a content strategist at Playlogue, a game development services team based in Singapore. He talks about the lessons he's learned about the transformation of media from what began as a board game. Find out more about Playlogue . Connect with Simon on LinkedIn .
Jul 14, 2021•27 min•Ep. 12
Five years in, FactorDaily pivoted to a non-profit entity this year. Its cofounder Pankaj Mishra figured the change would allow him the freedom to stay closer to mission: "To make sense of technology’s impact on the society around us." "No ads. No paywalls. No venture capital funding," Pankaj proclaims on the website. That means some hard decisions on building new business models in an incredibly tough space. One more thing: Pankaj has also demolished the traditional news cycle. He and his team ...
Jun 29, 2021•33 min•Ep. 11
