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YEARS            AMIC in 70’s, AMIC in 80’s, AMIC in 90’s, Year 2000 onwards, Year 2010 onwards
 
1970

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

an independent German foundation, agreed to fund the Asian Mass  Communication  Research & Information Centre ( AMIC) for the first five years under the Agreement of co-operation signed between the two parties.

The Singapore Government had offered to provide office space for AMIC.

   

 

Appointment of Dr Lakshmana Rao,

AMIC 1st Secretary-General (1970-76), who made great contributions to the growth of AMIC.

   
1971    
February
AMIC was formally registered under Singapore law as a Public Company 'limited by guarantee

and not having a share capital.' One of its primary objectives as expressed in the memorandum of association, was to establish a centre of mass communication in Asia with the general aim of promoting the development of the media and other communication networks in the region within the broad framework of economic, social, and cultural progress.
       

    

Mr. Roy Daniel of the Ministry of Culture, Singapore was selected as AMIC's Committee Chairman

while Dr Lakshmana Rao from India was appointed AMIC Secretary-General. Mr Daniel served as AMIC Chairman till 1995 afterwhich he was named Chairman d'Honneur till 2003.

 
 

The first AMIC Committee meeting was held.  

It approved a comprehensive Programme of Activities for 1971-72 covering documentation, conferences and seminars, training, research and relationship with other regional institutions.

September

Volume 1, No. 1 of the Asian Mass Communication Bulletin (AMCB),

the official newsletter of AMIC, was published

The 1st Travelling Seminar was organized.

Twelve senior mass communication editors from 11 countries met in Singapore and traveled together through nine countries. It aroused a great deal of interest among governments, universities, media units and professional organizations not only to establish the need for an organization like AMIC but also the scope for cooperative effort in the mass communication field.

AMIC set up its Doccumentation and Dissemination service that served Asia.

It began collecting materials relevant to the activities of AMIC from institutions and individuals within and outside the region.
December

The First General Assembly was held in Singapore to expand the Committee,

provide representation for the Indian sub-continent and North Eastern Asia (Japan and Korea), open membership to all those residents in the region, irrespective of nationality, and define the geographical working boundaries. Prof. Wilbur Schramm, Director of the Institute for Communication Research, Stanford University, USA, was scheduled to deliver the opening address.

 
1972  

AMIC published the first Occasional Paper 'Television Reconsidered' 

authored by Professor Wilbur Schramm of Stanford University, USDA, foremost international authority on media and development

January 

The 1st AMIC Documentation List was published and disseminated. 

It
featured a selective list of AMIC's holdings including items which are considered 'fugitive' and or directly concerned with mass communication in Asia.

June 

The first AMIC Annual General Meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur. 

Its theme was 'Communication Teaching and Training'.

December

AMIC Secretariat suffered a temporary setback when a fire broke out in an adjoining office

causing considerable damage to AMIC'S offices and disrupting work for two months.

 
1973  
January 

The first issue of the Asian Mass Communication Journal was published.

AMIC published a new series called AMIC Communication Bibliographies.

The first in this series was "Communication and Change in Rural Asia: A Select Bibliography."
July  

AMIC published "Teaching, Training and Research in Mass Communication: Directory of Institutions in Asia."

September 

AMIC accepted to serve as one of the regional centers of the Japan Prize Circulating Library of Educational Programmes

for Radio and Television sponsored by the Nippon Hose Kyokai and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation.

December 

AMIC published the Asian Mass Communication Institutions - a Directory  

which featured institutions engaged in mass communication teaching, training and research in Asia.

 
1974  
June

AMIC published the first issue of Media Asia: 

an Asian Mass Communication Quarterly

AMIC announced the new country representatives,  

namely; Mr. Pravin Desai for India, Dr. Dja'far Husin Assegaff, for Indonesia, Prof. Kim Il Chul for Korea, Mr. N.R. Panday for Nepal, Prof. Sharif al Mujahid for Pakistan, Mr. Leo Mangaoil for the Philippines, Dr. A. Goonasekera for Sri Lanka, Mrs. Sukanya Terawanij for Thailand and others.
March 

AMIC moved to its new headquarters provided by the Singapore government at Newton Road, Singapore.

August 

AMIC held its second General Assembly in Penang, Malaysia. 

Mr. Roy O. Daniel was elected chairman of the AMIC Committee.

 
1975  
March 

AMIC collaborated with UNESCO on a global research project 

"on Community and Communication" covering Finland, England, Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, Lebanon, Columbia, India and Singapore.

April  
AMIC held its annual general meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
 
1976  
June 

Mr. Reinhard Keune, head of the Mass Communication Department of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Bonn

joined AMIC as a consultant (1976-1978) upon the invitation of the AMIC Committtee and AMIC co-sponsors - the Singapore Government and FES.

Mr. Vijay Menon, General Manager of Grant Advertising Limited, Bombay, India

was appointed AMIC country representative for India.
July 

Dr. Lakshmana Rao who had been AMIC's Secretary-General

since its inception in 1971 resigned from AMIC.

November 

AMIC held the first international conference

on communication teaching and training in Singapore.

December   

AMIC has begun work on the first ever rural press research project

covering India, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The project was supported by the Canadian government-sponsored International Development Research Centre.

 
1977  
May 

Information Secretary Francisco Tatad of the Philippines

was the keynote speaker during the first AMIC Regional Conference on Development Communication Policies and Planning held in Manila.

June 

The International Institute of Communication (ICC), London partnered with AMIC

in organizing a seminar on "Use, Management and Regulations of the Radio Frequency Spectrum" in Singapore.

September   

Television News Exchange, one of AMIC publications,

was awarded a bronze medal in the Book Design Competition jointly organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore and the Singapore Book Publishers Association.

November
In cooperation with the Southeast Asian TV News Exchange

Group of the Asian Broadcasting Union andthe AIBD, AMIC conducted the first regional training course for television news editors and news gathering teams from Southeast Asian television organisations.

 
1978  
January

Dr. P.R.R. Sinha who joined AMIC as a senior programme specialist,

and later on redesignated as Head of Research and Training has been appointed Director of AMIC. Before joining AMIC, he was Diretcor of Extension and Communication at the National Institute of Community in Hyderabad, India.

September 

Mr. N.T.R. Singam, one of AMIC's founding members

and one-time AMIC Committee member, passed away. He was senior assistant editor of the Straits Times (Singapore). He founded the National Union of Journalists Malaysia of which he was the General-Secretary.

December

AMIC and the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists (CAJ) signed a Charter of Co-operation

which provided a clear mandate for AMIC to blue-print and implement training programmes for ASEAN journalists in consultation with CAJ.

 
1979  
March 

The Sri Lanka Government and AMIC signed an Agreement of

Cooperation with a view to strengthening present Sri Lanka-AMIC collaborative efforts as well as AMIC's initiatives in the Asian region toward training, research, publication and documentation in mass communication.

AMIC was one of the institutions which assisted UNESCO sponsored

International (MacBride) Commission for the study of communication problems in preparing the interim report on communication problems in modern society.
September

AMIC began a survey on news sources and news flow in 11 Asian countries.

This issue has engaged many communication practitioners and scholars worldwide. International awareness of this topic culminated in the formation of the MacBride Commission for the study of communication problems by UNESCO.

 
1980  
January

AMIC signed an Agreement of Cooperation with the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

The Agreement provided for mutual cooperation in developing communication media and expertise through training and research.

March   

AMIC signed a Charter of Cooperation with the International organisation of Consumers Unions.

The Charter entrusted AMIC with the responsibility of mapping out and implementing joint training programmes for newsmen and media specialists in the field of consumer journalism and related activities in Asia-Pacific.

September 

AMIC was formally admitted into mutual relationship with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

This made AMIC an international non-governmental organisation of the UN body and heralded a new era in international cooperation for AMIC.

 
1981  
January  

AMIC participated in the 5th General Assembly of the Organisation of Asian News Agencies

which inaugurated the Asia-Pacific News Network (ANN), seen as a viable complement to international news.

 
1982  
March    

Mr. Sarah Amunugama was appointed AMIC's new Secretary-General.

He was formerly a member of the AMIC Committee and was Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of State in Sri Lanka. He was the UNDP Consultant for Asia on the Development Information Network Project. He was the former Director of Information with the Government of Sri Lanka, founder Chairman of the Sri Lanka Film Corporation and Chairman of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in 1977.

May  

AMIC identified eight priority areas in communication research in Asia

following a five day seminar in Singapore. The research areas included instructional communication, media economics, communication technology, institutional studies, communication for development, impact studies, sociology of knowledge in communications, communication and culture.

October 

AMIC Secretary-General Mr. Sarah Amunugama joined UNESCO

as Director of the International Programme for the Development of Communication.

Mr. Vijay Menon was appointed as the new AMIC Secretary-General.

He was formerly AMIC's country representative in India and a Committee member.
 
1983  
February  

AMIC appointed Ms. Ina Suparto, head of the Communication department,

University of Indonesia as the new country representative for Indonesia and Mr. Mohd Hamdan bin Adnan, Lecturer of Communication and Public Relations at the MARA Institute of Technology.

April 

Mr. Abul Basher Mohd Musa, a news editor, was appointed AMIC's country representative in Bangladesh.

June   

Sir Charles Moses, AMIC'S Vice-Chairman for 12 years,

became the first honorary member of the organization. It was during his tenure as Secretary-General of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union that he joined the AMIC executive committee.

 
1984  
AMIC collaborated with the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft of Cologne, Germany

in implementing a series of seminar-workshops on "Media and the Protection of the Environment." This collaborated lasted till 1989.
The World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO and AMIC launched a major initiative

to increase the involvement of mass media in health, nutrition/educational efforts. The first Roundtable on this topic was held at the AMIC Secretariat with the participation of health officials, media practitioners and policymakers from 5 ASEAN countries.
December 

Ms. Darawan Sukumalachart, former head of the Journalism

Department of Thammasat University, was appointed AMIC new country representative in Thailand.

 
1985  
January   

Mr. R.V. Rajan, Vice-President of Grant Kenyon & Eckhardt,

was appointed as the new AMIC country representative for India.

June 
AMIC's 10th Annual General Meeting was held in Singapore.
 
1986  
June  
AMIC's 6th General Assembly was held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
November  

Rural press development in Asia received a fresh impetus

through the joint efforts of the newly established Communication Assistance Foundation (CAF), supported by the Graphic Media Development Centre, of the Netherlands and Asian organizations like AMIC. As a first step, CAF organized a seminar on rural press development at the AMIC Secretariat.

 

 
1987  
May 
AMIC's 11th Annual General Meeting was held in Manila, Philippines.
June

Dr. Benjamin Lozare, Director of the Philippine News Agency

was co-opted as a committee member, and was later appointed as Joint Deputy Secretary-General.

 
1988  
June 
AMIC's 12th Annual General Meeting was held in Trivandrum, India.
 
1989  
July  

Nepal's Ministry of Communications signed an agreement with AMIC

for mutual collaboration in the field of mass communications.

August 
AMIC's 7th General Assembly was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
 
1990  
November 

AMIC announced the new country representatives

for Korea - Dr. Woo-Hyun Won of Korean University, for the Philippines - Dr. Teresa Stuart of the University of the Philippines (Los Banos), and for Bangladesh - Mr. M. Tawhidul Anwar of Dhaka University.

 
1991  
July 

AMIC and the International Association of Communication Research (IAMCR)

signed an agreement which provided for mutual consultation and pertinent matters of policy, cooperation in the filed of membership, joint organization of regional conferences and support for each other's activities.

AMIC's 14th Annual General Meeting was held in Bangkok, Thailand.
October  

AMIC convened a meeting in Singapore among 10 Asian countries

to strengthen the establishment of an Asia-Pacific documentation network.  

 
1992  
March 

AMIC set up a Press Development Programme

with the co-operationand support of the Inca-Fiej Research Association (IFRA). The programme aimed at helping in the technical development of newspapers in the region through training programmes, on-the-job consultancies, and assistance in identifying sources of technical equipment, software and services for upgrading the physical plants of newspaper organizations. INCA-FIEJ Research Association (IFRA) of Darmstadt, Germany joined hands with AMIC to help the print media in Asia by basing an expert production at AMIC.

May 

AMIC and the Department of Information of Indonesia signed an agreement

of mutual cooperation in the field of research, publication and training in mass communications.

July  
AMIC's 8th General Assembly Meeting was held in Manila, Philippines.
AMIC's first Annual Conference was held in Manila, Philippines

with the theme " Communications in a Changing Asia."
 
1993  
May 
The Department of Mass Communication of the National University of Singapore

joined AMIC as co-publisher of the Asian Journal of Communication.
June  

AMIC's 2nd Annual Conference was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

with the theme " Communication, Technology and Development: Alternatives for Asia."

 
1994 
June  

AMIC's 3rd Annual Conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand

with theme " The Changing Communications Scene in Asia: Implications for Development."  

July

The School of Communication Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and AMIC

signed a Memorandum of Understanding that provided for collaboration in communication research, exchange of scholars and academic materials, sponsorship of seminars and workshops and exchange of information. Accommodation was also to be made available to AMIC at the new premises of the School to be constructed in 1996.

 
1995  
June 

AMIC's 4th Annual Conference was held in Jakarta, Indonesia

with the theme "The Changing Communications Scene in the Asia-Pacific region: Cultural Implications."

Mr. Chew Keng Juea, Director and Group General Manager of the Singapore Press Holdings

was elected and confirmed as AMIC's new Chairman during the 9th AMIC General Assembly was held in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was decided during the Assembly to change the name of AMIC from the Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Centre to Asian Media Information and Communication Centre.
 
1996  
April 

AMIC signed a scientific cooperation agreement with the Catholic University of Brussels.

The agreement was intended to put on a more formal footing teaching and research cooperation that had existed on an ad hoc basis.

June  

AMIC held its 5th Annual Conference in Singapore

with the theme " Asian Communications: The Next 25 years." It coincided with AMIC's 25th Anniversary.

AMIC announced the launching of two Media Excellence Awards,

in collaboration with the Singapore Press Holdings and the Television Corporation of Singapore. They were the AMIC-TCS Asian television Write Award and the AMIC-SPH Print Media Write Award.
July  

AMIC moved to its new location at the School of Communication Studies,

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

 
1997  
June  

AMIC held its 6th Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

with the theme "Skyways, Highways and Corridors: Asia's Communication Challenges". Acting Malaysian Prime Minister YAB Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was the keynote speaker.

Mr. Robert Iau from Singapore was elected new AMIC Chairman

during the 62nd Committee Meeting following the resignation of Mr. Chew Keng Juea.
AMIC commenced a research project called PRELUDE

(Production of Regional Electronic Teaching Aids for University education). Under the directorship of Dr. Hidetoshi Kato, Committee Member, the project was aimed at documenting the lives of farmers in seven Asian countries. It was funded by the Nippon Foundation.
September 

AMIC added the Asian Radio Write Award as a third category

when it launched the 1997 Media Excellence Awards. The third category was supported by Radio Corporation of Singapore.

 
1998  
May

AMIC held its 7th Annual Conference in Bangkok, Thailand

with the theme "Asia's Information Marketplace: Race for Technology, Content and Competence."

AMIC held its 10th General Assembly in Bangkok, Thailand.
The General Assembly of the International Association for Media and Communication Research

meeting in Glasglow voted for Singapore as the venue of the association's next general assembly in 2000. Both AMIC and the School of Communication Studies, NTU would co-organise the conference.  
 
1999  
July 

AMIC held its 8th Annual Conference in Chennai, India 

with the theme "Asia: Information Poor to Information Rich".

 
2000  
March

AMIC and the School of Communication Studies, NTU, Singapore

signed an agreement expanding their collaboration in the field of research, publication and seminars. It provided a sharing of services. The AMIC/SCS Resource Centre with a collection of over 40,000 records provide the faculty and students of SCS with full access to its resources and collections.

June 

The AMIC 9th Annual Conference on the "Digital Millennium: Opportunities for Asian Media"

was held in Singapore. Mr. Lim Swee Say, Singapore Minister of State for Communication & Information Technology was the keynote speaker.

AMIC Committee Chairman Robert Iau announced before the 20th AMIC Annual General Meeting

that the 30-year old association with FES as core funder came to a close this year. FES has remained a partner in funding specific media projects.
July 
AMIC and the School of Communication Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,

jointly hosted the biennial scientific conference and general assembly of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).
August 

Dr. Anura Goonasekera, Head of Research,

was appointed as AMIC's new Deputy Secretary-General.

November

AMIC appointed new country representatives in Asia. 

They were Mr. Gamel Nasir Mohd. Ali for Malaysia, Dr. Kim Kwang for South Korea, and Mr. H.M. Gunasekera for Sri Lanka.

 
2001  
February  

Japan Media Communication (JAMCO) partnered with AMIC

in organising the 10th JAMCO International Symposium on "Positioning Asian TV in the 21st Century" held in Malaysia.

 
2002  
January 

The School of Communication Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,

was renamed the School of Communication and Information (SCI). AMIC has close collaboration with SCI since the mid 90s.

June

The AMIC/SCI Resource Center was renamed the Asian Communication resource Centre.

It houses a collection of 70,000 records on mass communication, information technology, new media and media laws in Asia-Pacific.

August

Mr. Vijay Menon retired from AMIC 

as its Secretary-General and Mr. Jose Ma. Carlos was appointed as the new head of AMIC.

Dr. Anura Goonasekera, AMIC Deputy Secretary-General passed away in Brisbane, Australia.

He contributed substantially to the work of AMIC in the field of communication research.
October

Mr. Nalaka Gunawardene was appointed the new country representative

for Sri Lanka following the death of his predecessor, Mr. H.M. Gunasekera.

Dr. Kullatip Sataruji from the Dhurakijpundit University

was appointed the new country representative for Thailand.
November  

AMIC partnered with Times Media Private Limited now called

Marshall Cavendish International in Singapore in publishing and promoting five titles.

December 

AMIC signed a new memorandum of agreement

with the School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, that strengthened our collaboration in research, publication and conferences. The agreement, valid until 2007, also served to bolster AMIC's finances.

AMIC signed an agreement with the International Development Research Center, Canada,

that extended funding support to the Pan Asia ICT Research Grants Programme till 2004.
 
2003
July 
AMIC prepared the groundwork for introducing new and better products

for its members. They included the Asian Communication Digest featuring statistics on media and the AMIC web site that was re-designed to provide a new look, more content, greater flexibility and an all-around improved user experience.
September

AMIC and the School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,

co-publishers of the Asian Journal of Communication (AJC), signed a publishing agreement with Taylor & Francis for the printing and marketing of AJC worldwide.

November
After the SARS threat in Asia, the postponed AMIC's 12th Annual Conference was held in Singapore.

The conference theme was " E-Worlds: Government, Business and Civil Society." The AMIC Committee also held its regular meeting during which Professor Eddie C Y Kuo was appointed AMIC Committee Chairman. Assoc. Professor Ang Peng Hwa, Dean of the School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Professor Liu Jinan, president of the Beijing Broadcast University, China, were co-opted as members of the AMIC Committee.
December

The Internet Society (ISOC) agreed to be a partner

in the Pan Asia ICT Research Grants Programme being administered by AMIC.

2004
January
Dr Indrajit Banerjee is appointed

as the Secretary-General of AMIC.
July
The 13th AMIC Annual Conference held in Bangkok

is one of the largest ever in its 30-plus history.
AMIC's 12 General Assembly is held in Bangkok, Thailand.
The AMIC Young Communicators' Network is launched.
2005
June

The inaugural RadioAsia conference is launched in Singapore,

in partnership with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and Singapore Exhibition Services.

July

The first AMIC Distinguished Forum, composed of prominent media scholars from

around the world, is convened at the Beijing Annual Conference.

 

Prof. Ang Peng Hwa is elected Chairman of AMIC.

The AMIC International Advisory Committee is formed,

composed of eminent international scholars and media experts to strengthen its research, publications and capacity building initiatives. Its first meeting was held during the 14th AMIC Annual Conference in Beijing, 18-21 July 2005.

2006
February

AMIC marks its 35th Anniversary at its Annual Conference

and in a special celebration for local members and staff.

July

Dr Shashi Tharoor, Under Secretary-General for Communication and Public Information,

United Nations visits AMIC in July while on an official visit to Singapore.

AMIC moves into its new premises on the fourth floor

of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.

2007
May

AMIC starts the hosting of the South Asian version of World Press Freedom Day

with an event commenorating it in Male, Maldives.

July

AMIC co-organises and hosts the first World Journalism Education Congress

in conjunction with the 16th AMIC Annual Conference in Singapore.

2008
May

AMIC organizes the first South Asian Media Forum

in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

July

AMIC holds its 17th Annual Conferences, on the theme of

Changing Media, Changing Societies: Media and the Millennium Development Goals, in the Philippines.

2009
July

AMIC holds its 18th Annual Conference, on the theme of

Media, Democracy and Government: Emerging Paradigms in a Digital Age, in New Delhi, India.

2010
January 11

Prof. Sundeep R Muppidi was appointed Secretary-General of AMIC

February 11

AMIC co-organised RadioAsia 2010 in Delhi

Themed ‘Journey to the Digital Land: Addressing Diverse Radio Audiences and Markets’

June 11

AMIC held its 19th Annual Conference in Singapore, on the theme of

Technology and Culture: Communication Connectors and Dividers

November 11

AMIC hosted the 2nd Asia Media Forum in Bangkok

The 2nd ASEAN Media Forum was held on 9-10 November in Bangkok, Thailand. Themed 'Developing Regional Media Collaborations for ASEAN Community Building', the two-day forum had concurrently ran a workshop after the ASEAN Summit.

November 11

AMIC organised ‘ISOC Event INET Singapore 2010’

It was the first collaboration between AMIC and the Internet Society

2011
January 11

AMIC bi-monthly magazine ceased publication

It was replaced with an online newsletter sent monthly to its members and the public highlighting activities of AMIC

February 11

AMIC co-organised RadioAsia 2011 in Delhi

Themed ‘Radio on-Air Everywhere: Adopting Multi-platform Strategies’

June 11

AMICto hold its 20th Annual Conference and 40th Anniversary in Hyderabad, India

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YEARS   AMIC in 70’s, AMIC in 80’s, AMIC in 90’s, Year 2000 onwards, Year 2010 onwards

 
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