Sweden to host 2008 World Newspaper Congress

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.

Demonstrated vitality

This year's three-day meeting of the world's press repeatedly demonstrated the vitality and innovation that characterises the industry today. More than 1600 newspaper professionals from 109 countries attended.

With circulations on the rise, a record number of paid-for titles in existence, capital investment in excess of US$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 (WAN), which organised the events.

“It's too easy to be negative about newspapers and many commentators are profoundly bearish,” O'Reilly said.

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, GM, 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.”
– 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, WAN

“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, US

“Norwegians spent €125 million on mobile content in 2006. More than 70% 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, WAN

“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 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, as well as http://blog.bizcommunity.com and www.zoopy.com/bizcommunity.

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.