THE BusinessMirror celebrates its 10th birthday anniversary today. As we mark this milestone, we keep a firm pledge to work tirelessly to make the paper more relevant and attuned to the times in line with the vision of its founder, Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua.
Times are changing fast, and given the growing dominance of the Internet, some pundits are asking how newspapers, which have been around far longer than radio and television, will continue to remain relevant in the digital world of the 21st century.
We realize that the old methods that newspapers employed in the past may be obsolete today. Innovation in the news industry will involve radical changes. Survival will depend on quick business decisions and the willingness to adopt new business methods.
We don’t presume to know all the answers, but we are doing our best to make the BusinessMirror remain relevant and useful to its audience. We try to evolve as best we could, embracing new platforms and technologies in the process. We are the first to offer comprehensive news stories, special reports and feature articles that dig deeper into the substance of a news story. We are the leader in giving a broader look at burning issues.
To serve its audience well, the BusinessMirror has diversified and divided its news and features offering into more than 30 categories: Top News (or the biggest and hottest news); Nation (news about policies and decisions that impact on businesses); Regions (news that impact regional businesses and local government units); Economy; World News; Corporate News; Banking & Finance; Agriculture & Commodities; Entrepreneur; Sports; Opinion; Life (Lifestyle); Tourism; Digital Life; Art; Show; Perspective (featuring the views of analysts and industry leaders); Our Times (a section for the elderly); Education; Biodiversity; Marketing; Green; Science; Faith; Motoring; Property (to serve the real-estate industry); and Special Reports.
The other sections that complete our comprehensive offering: Asean Economic Community (to guide and help Philippine businesses to prepare for the regional economic integration); Envoys & Expats (to serve the diplomatic community and the expats in the country); and The Millennials (to cater to the digital natives, the future leaders of the Philippines).
We know that industry captains and policy-makers are reading the BusinessMirror. We know that we don’t only serve the country’s top 5,000 corporations, that we have 3.6 million online readers, some of whom are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). We are happy that our millions of OFWs also follow us on Facebook. Here’s where our top 20 Facebook followers come from: the US, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Australia, Canada, Qatar, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, Israel and Indonesia.
Thankfully, our efforts and hard work are paying dividends. The BusinessMirror has won three Rotary Club of Manila Journalism Awards (2006, 2010 and 2012), and it is the only Philippine newspaper that bagged the prestigious United Nations Media Award.
Just recently, the BusinessMirror was named the official media partner of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 2015 CEO Summit.
Like other industry players, the BusinessMirror is working tirelessly to keep Philippine journalism alive and relevant. With a publisher like T. Anthony C. Cabangon, who believes that excellent journalism is good business, it is fascinating to watch how the BusinessMirror continues to evolve and grow. Thad, as friends call him, is leadership by example personified. No wonder the country’s No. 1 one business daily continues to gain stature and currency.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano