AFP on the ground
Asia reporting shines as 2024 opens
Supporters react after Taiwan's Vice President Lai Ching-te from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party wins the presidential election in Taipei on January 13, 2024. YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP
In January, AFP maintained a robust presence in Asia, with boots-on-the-ground coverage ensuring a strong start to the year. With its unrivalled network in the region, AFP delivered fast, accurate and comprehensive coverage on elections in Taiwan, Bangladesh and Bhutan, Brunei’s royal wedding, Japan’s deadly earthquake and the flare-up of tensions between the two Koreas.
Taiwan election
The Taiwan election was closely watched and prepared well in advance by AFP. Running a lengthy package of 15 stories and stockshots, AFP deployed teams coming from all over Asia, not only to Taipei and one of its islands, Kinmen, but also to Pingtan, in the south of China, to collect the views of Chinese from the other side of the strait.
japan quake
Images of damaged roads and buildings in the Japanese city of Nanao, Ishikawa prefecture after a major 7.5-magnitude tremor hit the region on New Year's Day. FRED MERY / AFP
When the Japanese authorities announced a major earthquake had hit the Noto Peninsula in Japan, AFP immediately rushed a team to Wajima, making it the first international news agency to arrive at the epicenter of the disaster. Very quickly, AFP published strong aerial videos and photos of the destruction.
The team produced some strong human-focused stories on local residents queuing to get drinkable water in Shika and people in isolated villages desperately waiting for help.
north korea artillery barrage
A South Korean marine patrols a beach on Yeonpyeong island, near the 'northern limit line' sea boundary with North Korea on January 8, 2024. JUNG YEON-JE / AFP
South Korean marines patrol the entrance to a beach on Yeonpyeong island on January 8, 2024. JUNG YEON-JE / AFP
On January 5, North Korea fired an artillery barrage near two South Korean islands: Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong. After AFP filed the urgent news that South Korea had ordered their 5,000 residents to seek shelter, a multimedia team from Seoul boarded a ferry to Yeonpyeong . Here again, committed to its “boots-on-the-ground” approach, AFP was the first and only agency to deploy reporters to the difficult-to-reach hotspot.
"I've even experienced (my house) being directly hit by artillery fire before,” Jung Chang-kuan, a resident who thought that war had broken out, told us.
brunei
Lavish celebrations for the wedding of Brunei's Prince Abdul Mateen and his wife reached a climax with a glittering ceremony attended by government leaders and blue-blooded guests from Asia and the Middle East. MARTIN ABBUGAO, EBRAHIM HARRIS / AFP
Again, AFP was the only agency on the ground in Brunei to witness the royal wedding of Prince Abdul Mateen and his wife Anisha Rosnah. The agency was live when the open-top Rolls Royce rolled through the streets of Bandar Seri Begawan.
bangladesh election
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks as she is sworn in for a fifth term at the Presidential Palace in Dhaka on January 11, 2024. MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP
Members of the Bangladesh Gono Odhikar Parishad party wearing black face bands take part in a protest to condemn the general election, in Dhaka on January 8, 2024 (L). Posters of the election candidates are seen hanging over a street ahead of the 2024 general elections, in Dhaka on December 26, 2023 (R). MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP
AFP deployed a video journalist and photographer from India to reinforce the agency’s bureau in Dhaka for the elections, ensuring strong multimedia coverage of Sheikh Hasina securing a fifth term in the polls, which the opposition boycotted and branded illegitimate.
bhutan election
MONEY SHARMA / AFP
Access to Bhutan is never an easy task but AFP was determined to fly a team to the landlocked Himalayan country for the general election to hear the voices of voters. One story focused on young citizens who have left in record numbers since the last elections, searching for better financial and educational opportunities.
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