In December 2022, INMA and Google News Initiative (GNI) awarded their third annual Elevate Scholarship to 50 news media professionals from 31 countries. This series features these impressive media professionals who are shaping our industry.

Esme Choi has spent 12 years gaining experience in such areas as media sales, content licensing, events sponsorships, subscriptions, and audience development in APAC. She has developed partnerships for international news organisations with public and private sectors across Asia including India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, Korea, and Japan.

Now she is using her expertise as the commercial partnerships manager for Dow Jones — something she said is a natural fit with her interest in keeping the world informed.

“I am passionate about high-quality journalism with integrity that keeps the public and global audience informed,” the Hong Kong-based Choi said. “I believe that’s the cornerstone to the continuity of human civilisations and a more open and fair society.”

In her current role at Dow Jones, Choi introduces paywall knowledge to regional news publishers and digital news startups.

“News organisations have been finding ways to stay commercially viable amidst audience behaviour change in the world of continual digitalisation — while also doing their best to produce quality journalism,” she said.  “Introducing paid content is even more challenging in emerging markets and regions. I hope what I do in my job will continue helping and supporting quality journalism internationally.”

Choi enjoys working alongside the best journalists by promoting their news content through licensing and media partnerships with organisations across different industries. She enjoys innovating media products and finding ways to bring in revenue to support that essential journalism. Choi also enjoys brainstorming ideas to deliver top-quality content to the audience in new and better ways as technology and audience behaviour evolve.

Through the Elevate Scholarship programme, Choi is eager to learn about the latest technology and be able to leverage it in distributing content to audiences to provide a better user experience. She is excited to learn from other people working in news organisations and hear about their ideas for the future of media and journalism: “This will also be a great opportunity for me to gain career advice from mentors.”

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