WAN, IFRA merge

The combined new organisation will represent more than 18 000 publications, 15 000 online sites and over 3 000 companies in more than 120 countries. WAN-IFRA is dedicated “to be the indispensable partner of newspapers and the entire news publishing industry worldwide, particularly our members, in the defence and promotion of press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity, and the development of prosperous businesses and technology”.

The mission statement of the organisation can be found at www.wan-ifra.org.

Two headquarters

The merger, which becomes effective on 1 July 2009, has been approved by the membership of the two organisations. The new organisation will maintain the two current headquarters in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany.

The two organisations have been discussing a merger, on and off, for more than five years, as they have built up several similar products and services and have an increasing overlap in membership.

Gavin O'Reilly, the president of WAN and group CEO of Dublin-based Independent News and Media, will serve as president of the new organisation through 2010. “Both IFRA and WAN are strong organisations providing key services to our industry,” he said. “We believe that combining their strengths will allow us to be even more resourceful and effective in responding to the growing needs of our members and industry partners in the fast-moving and evolving media matrix. This is a necessary merger, which, indeed, has been on the cards for some time.”

Need to concentrate resources

Horst Pirker, president of IFRA and CEO of Styria Medien AG in Austria, will serve as first vice-president, and will become president in 2011. "Like the whole news publishing industry, WAN and IFRA are currently facing serious challenges. I think we need to concentrate our resources to support our members in the best possible way,” he said.

The new organisation will appoint a CEO shortly. In the meantime, the current CEOs of WAN and IFRA, Timothy Balding and Reiner Mittelbach, will jointly manage the merged association.

WAN, founded in 1948, groups 78 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives and companies in more than 120 countries, 13 news agencies and nine regional press organisations. It is based in Paris, France.

IFRA, founded in 1961, groups more than 3 000 publishing companies and suppliers to the publishing industry from more than 70 countries. It is based in Darmstadt, Germany, with regional offices in the United States, Asia and Europe.