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world newspaper congress |
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The 63rd World Newspaper Congress The 2010 summit meetings of the world's press take place, for the first time, in an Arab nation. The choice of Lebanon for these historical events was self-evident for an organization like WAN-IFRA, which vigorously promotes and defends media freedom and opposes the tyrants and autocratic regimes which seek to crush its emergence. Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the free press is in various degrees controlled, oppressed, suspended, banned and censored, as publishers, editors and journalists are harassed, attacked, persecuted and imprisoned. Lebanon is a shining exception in an otherwise dark regional tableau: its newspapers and electronic media are fully free and diverse and have achieved an impact and influence far beyond the borders of this small country. The reputation of the WAN-IFRA Congress and Editors Forum as the leading and most prestigious annual event for the world's publishers and news executives is long established. They are THE place to be, to keep up with the latest trends in our business globally, to gain insights into the most successful publishing strategies, to meet the leaders of the world's news publishing industry and to network with colleagues from every culture, region and market. As every former participant knows, doing serious business does not preclude having fun, and the Congress and Forum are well known for their outstanding social events and parties. And Beirut is the place to be for those! Named, in 2009, by the New York Times, as the world's 'most compelling destination', it has now been described by the UK's Guardian newspaper as 'the most glamorous' place to visit in 2010! Who is the Congress for? The Congress is a 'total' newspaper event bringing together publishers, chief executives, managing directors, editors - and the most ambitious managers from all levels of the industry. Suppliers of services to newspapers and news publishers are very welcome, whether as exhibitors or participants. More on the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers at www.wan-ifra.org or e-mail to timothy.balding@wan-ifra.org More on the Congress programme at www.wanlebanon2010.com In Search of the New Business Model The programme themes: The economic crisis from which the world now appears to be emerging has brought sharply into focus a number of key issues and questions facing newspapers today: - Newspaper circulations in print, though still surging ahead in the developing world, continue to lose ground in the majority of developed nations - With the fantastic explosion of alternative advertising channels, the commercial revenues of newspapers, which have taken such a blow in the crisis over the past eighteen months, may struggle to gain their pre-recession levels any time soon - Digital advertising revenues, on which so many publishers placed great hope for a prosperous future, will not on any foreseeable time scale provide sufficient new revenues to fully replace the structural, let alone cyclical, loss in print advertising for the great majority of news enterprises - The powerful new reach and new audiences gained by newspapers through their exploitation of new electronic platforms are no guarantee at all of new financial prosperity - unless effective new multi-media sales strategies are fully exploited - Good, credible journalism of quality, which citizens need more than ever in an age of information 'garbage', does not come cheaply and must be adequately funded if newspapers are to maintain their vital role in society and democracy - Investment and experimentation in the whole range of new information distribution channels are not optional, but a necessity if newspapers are to follow and satisfy the changing consumption behaviour of their readers - The process of 're-engineering' and re-organising the newspaper company to create a sustainable future will need to continue and even accelerate - The relative impact of new platforms, from a new generation of reading 'tablets' and other such devices, to the new 'smartphones', remains unclear and in many cases still largely a promise for content providers - New wealth may be won around good content provided through the new platforms - essentially the Internet for the moment - but newspapers are as yet to get their fair share from producing it - Paid online content models - the great debate of 2009 - will become an even more critical issue in 2010, as newspapers volubly contest the right of search engines and other aggregators to run off with the vast majority of the revenues available from web audiences and advertisers and governments get into the discussion, either to reinforce content copyright or to examine the taxation of online advertising There is indeed no shortage of critical issues for the news business to examine and debate at the 2010 World Newspaper Congress, as publishers strive to identify and develop the New Business Model necessary to prosper against the background of all these challenges. Monday 7 June
(the round tables are open to all participants and take place at the Hotel Phoenicia InterContinental) Tuesday 8 June
Wednesday 9 June
François Nel, Director Journalism Leaders Programme, University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom Thursday 10 june
Jack Matthews, Chief Executive Officer, Fairfax Digital, Australia |
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