A year in the life of AsiaNews.it
Today AsiaNews.it celebrates its first year of existence. For all us there is but a lot of gratitude for all those who helped us, for PIME superiors, and for Mother Teresa of Calcutta to whom this website is dedicated. In just one year the site has grown by leaps and bounds in spectacular and miraculous ways.
1) AsiaNews.it's growth has been spectacular to the point that it has become one of the most cited websites about Asia in the world. Every day we receive confirmations that our articles appear in others sites, papers and magazines around the world. We are included in press reviews in the US, Singapore, Lebanon, China and in Google's News in both English and Italian.
Our Italian edition began exactly on November 1, 2003. Here is the data for that month:
November 2003 157,499 hits (59 per cent from Italy);
On December 3, 2003, our English and Chinese editions went online and the number of hits just about doubled:
December 2003 267,163 hits (50 per cent from Italy)
January 2004 416,025 hits
February 2004 487,020 hits
After that growth was almost exponential.
March 2004 831,000 hits (50 per cent from Italy)
May 2004 1,292,109 hits
In the summer, when most sites see the number of hits drop a lot, AsiaNews.it experienced only a small decline:
August 2004 1,042,087 hits
With the end of summer hits shot up once again:
September 2004 1,651,057 hits
October 2004 1,774,463 hits
On average now, our English pages receive about 60 per cent of all hits, our Italian pages account for about 30 per cent and our Chinese pages the remaining 10 per cent. What is amazing is that we have never advertised the website. News about us simply spread "through the grapevine".
More importantly, our growth largely stems from our objectivity. Our stories find their way to conservative websites as much as progressive ones, to both those against and in favour of globalisation, to sites that are Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox. Our readers included journalists, university professors and students, human rights activists and members of Christian Churches (including Italian Protestants), Muslims, Hindus, and followers of Falun Gong as well as diplomatic missions who find our information about the Catholic Church and its place in the various nations of Asia useful.
News agencies and newspapers pick up our releases. ANSA, AGI, Reuters, AFP, AP, and EFE are among the better known, but other agencies in Russia, China, the US (CWN, CNS, EWTN . . .) do the same.
At present, some websites in Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore (in Chinese) and Russia asked us to reproduce our daily news. The websites of Italy's largest dailiesRepubblica, Stampa, Corriere, Avvenirealso carry some of our news. Plus, our news stories have found their way to other media, interviews on Italian and foreign daily papers, magazines, radio and TV shows.
2) AsiaNews.it's growth has been miraculous because it is through dedication and generosity that our product is crafted. Our editorial staff is made up of young writers, a few volunteer professional journalists and four good translators (in Chinese and English). We have some 20 correspondents (in addition to missioners) some of whom are professional journalists whilst others are ordinary Christians who want to tell others what their life in the Church is all about.
I can say that they are all working out of the goodness of their heart rather than money. Their salary is nothing to brag about.
3) The subject matters AsiaNews.it covers largely explain its success. The most popular stories and dossiers were about:
- the persecution of Christians (Catholics and Protestants alike) in China (ex.: reports on detained bishops and believers; dossiers on church buildings destroyed);
- the violence against Christians in India and the steps taken by the new Indian government;
- the relationship between Islam and Christianity (from the point of view of theology but also of the lack of freedom to evangelise in Muslim countries) with a particular focus on the new interest many Muslims have for the Jesus of the Gospels, on the campaign to free Savio O'Connor, a Christian accused of proselytising in Saudi Arabia, and on the development of fundamentalism and terrorism within Islam;
- the Cordoba Cathedral which Muslims and the Spanish government would like to see used as a mosque, a dossier which includes the Vatican's clear position on the issue;
- the Catholic bishops' position on the Iraq war (we were the first to let bishops speak about the persecution of the Church under Saddam Hussein, the country's future, the current needs and their commitment to the liberation of hostages;
- the troubled relations between Israel and the Holy See (over the Church's freedom in the Holy Land);
- population control policies in the Philippines, India, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore;
- the challenges facing Asia's economies, especially those of China and India, the energy crisis, oil prices and the environment;
- the impact on evangelisation in Asia of the movie The Passion of the Christ;
- all the salient points in John Paul II's teachings, his works, speeches on Asia, his official documents, the Sunday Angelus (we are the first agency to provide an English and Chinese translation every Sunday).
The products we offer are above all articles and dossiers whose information is more complete than those of the larger agencies because they take into account the human element and the voice of the Church.
Whenever events unfold we interview or welcome input from Church and Vatican leaders as well as individuals renowned for their contribution to culture. Sometimes we publish translations or synthesise articles or remarks made by internationally known figures that appear in lesser known media outlets.
We estimate that on average AsiaNews.it publishes per month about 150 news items in three languages. That is five per day, Saturday and Sunday included.
4) AsiaNews.it is the voice of the Church in various countries of Asia. Yet it was a pleasant surprise to see how many Catholic sites around the worldin Italy, the US, Lebanon, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, US-based Vietnamese sites, Philippines, Russia, Uzbekistan, etc.pick up our stories
Our information is at the service of the Church's freedom. The feedback we receive is proof of this: Vietnamese Catholics who want us to speak more about their country, converts from Islam thanking us for our articles on religious freedom in Iran and Syria, Christians who are regular readers in Saudi Arabia, Pakistanis who offer us greater details about our published stories, and finally threats against us and the Church from Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists.
China can be a problem since its censors occasionally block our site preventing Chinese web surfers from accessing our pages. But in this we are in good company for Vatican Radio, the Diocese of Hong Kong and many Protestant and Human Rights websites are also blocked. Still, some Chinese have found ways around the authorities' interference; many access Chinese-language websites in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada, US, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, etc. to get our news. Some weeks ago, the US Orthodox Church asked for our permission to report our news on China in English, Chinese and Russian.
5) We did not open a new venue to sell news. We believe that evangelisation means spreading the news, not selling them. None the less, fund raising remains important and we shall soon start accepting donations via internet and regular mail. We are also exploring the possibility of offering space to advertisers. In the meantime, the miracle lives on.
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