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Meetings
of World's Press Ends With Look Toward the Future
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From WAN
Göteborg,
Sweden Will Host the Events in 2008
The 60th World Newspaper Congress, 14th
World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo came to an end in Cape Town
on Wednesday with an optimistic look toward the future of newspapers.
With more than 1,600 newspaper professionals
from 109 countries attending, the three-day meeting of the world’s press
repeatedly demonstrated the vitality and innovation that characterises
the industry today.
With circulations on the rise, a record number of paid-for titles in existence,
capital investment in excess of 6-billion dollars last year, the aggressive
marketing of brands and the launch of a plethora of brand extensions,
the demise of newspapers had been greatly exaggerated, said Gavin O’Reilly,
President of the World Association of Newspapers, which organised the
events. “It’s too easy to be negative about newspapers and many commentators
are profoundly bearish," Mr O’Reilly said.
Full coverage of the proceedings, including
summaries of presentations, video interviews with speakers and delegates,
and much more, can be found at www.capetown2007.co.za. Next year, the
61st World Newspaper Congress, 15th World Editors Forum and Info Services
Expo 2008 will be held from 1 to 4 June 2008 in the south-western Swedish
maritime city of Göteborg. The events will be hosted by the Swedish Newspaper
Publishers Association, which represents Sweden’s daily newspapers and
other media companies. More about the events can be found at www.wangoteborg2008.com.
Here’s what they were saying at Cape Town
2007, which was hosted by the Newspaper Association of South Africa: “There
is lots of talk of gadgets and online, but there’s one wonderful ingredient
that is often left out: passion. Passion to serve people, to listen to
people, to give them what they want”.
Fergus Sampson, General Manager, Daily
Sun, South Africa ’Courage is an important word for us. Old successful
companies very often get lazy resting on historic successes. That is why
it takes courage to do things sometimes differently and to invent new
ways."
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“There
is lots of talk of gadgets and online, but there’s one wonderful
ingredient that is often left out: passion. Passion to serve people,
to listen to people, to give them what they want”.
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Tomas Brunegard, CEO, Stampen Group, Sweden "Newspapers in developing
markets continue to increase circulation by leaps and bounds, and in mature
markets are showing remarkable resilience against the onslaught of digital
media. Even in many developed nations the industry is maintaining or even
increasing sales. At the same time, newspapers are exploiting to the full
all the new opportunities provided by the digital distribution channels
to increase their audiences. As the digital tide gathers strength, it
is remarkable that the press in print continues to be the media of preference
for the majority of readers who want to remain informed."
Timothy Balding, CEO, World Association
of Newspapers "Much has always been said about how one medium’s emergence
would eliminate those that came before: first books would eliminate the
sermon, then newspapers would eliminate the books, radio would eliminate
newspapers, and television would kill all other news media.
It has not happened. But we must continue
to deal with the one important factor: time. How many things can a normal
person attend to during the course of 24 hours. That is our challenge."
Mario Garcia, CEO, Garcia Media Group, United States "Norwegians spent
125 million euros on mobile content in 2006.
More than 70 percent of this revenue went
back to content providers, including newspapers." Erik Nord, Deputy CEO,
Telenor, Norway "While there is some indication that print circulation
is dropping in some areas, the percentage of people who look for their
news on both the net and in their newspapers is increasing rapidly, and
more than makes up for the loss of circulation in print media."
Martha Stone, Director of the Shaping the
Future of the Newspaper project, World Association of Newspapers “The
first brand young people adopt is television, then the internet.They view
newspapers as an inspirational kind of romantic, aspirational ideal.
They see newspapers as a different kind
of media.” Robert Barnard, Partner, D-Code,, Canada “Tell the African
story in as much depth and context as possible, physically get around
the continent so as to reflect what is really happening on the ground."
Thabo Mbeki, President, Republic of South Africa Full conference coverage,
including video, debates, summaries of presentations and much more, can
be found at www.capetown2007.co.za.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation
for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership
includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual
newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional
and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman,
Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris
France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6
10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.
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June
2007 |
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