Biography:

Almar Latour is Editor-in-Chief, Asia, for The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Latour, based in Hong Kong, oversees The Wall Street Journal Asia, Asia.WSJ.com, Chinese.WSJ.com, India.WSJ.com, the digital Japanese edition of The Wall Street Journal, and other Wall Street Journal editorial operations in Asia in print and digital. Since his arrival in Asia in mid-2009, Mr. Latour led the launch of numerous digital news and analysis products in Asia, including China Real Time, Japan Real Time, India Real Time and Korea Real Time, as well as Scene Asia and the web video show Asia Today. Site visits to WSJ.com and its various sister publications in Asia have grown sharply during his tenure. He also overhauled the look and content of The Wall Street Journal Asia in print.

Speaker Summary:

Today, mobile is most important

Almar Latour, the Editor-in-Chief Wall Street Asia, argued that mobile news technology has quickly become the most important part of the modern-day newsroom.

“If it can be mobile, it will be mobile,” he said.

He said that the, because of technological growth, the mobile news-gathering terrain is constantly in flux. In his mind, this was a good thing because that growth is constantly pushing journalism past previous limits and toward innovation.

Speaker Chronology: 

Rapid Response has An Advantage

Latour went on to discuss the advantages of mobile story telling.

“Mobile has the greatest impact on the newsroom,” Latour said. “If it can be mobile, it will be mobile.”

Mobile news reporting advantages include rapid response, access – commentary to video, and it’s considered as a reporter’s notebook because it’s convenient for behind-the-scenes footage.

Social media reporting is another key concept Latour discussed, using the Fukushima disaster as an example. Reporters interacted with readers and were part of the story as it developed.

The final advantage is news publishing using a variety of different mobile devices to publish effective stories.