Newspaper & Mailroom
When Sleeping Volcanoes Wake: The Digital Firestorm
Wednesday 05. May 2010 - Newspapers in much of the world are now facing the sweeping and disruptive changes that have dramatically hit the long-standing media business model in the United States over the last several years.
Mark Contreras, chairman of the Newspaper Association of America and senior vice-president of the newspaper division of The E. W. Scripps Company, will join the World Newspaper Congress next month for a look at the digital firestorm that has engulfed the US media industry.
Mr Contreras will report on where the US business model stands; the larger issues for the industry in a time of content explosion and revenue constriction; what he considers it means to be a newspaper in America today; the financial reality behind the US journalism model; and the demands of addressing these issues in a landscape that demands a new sense of urgency.
The Congress, along with the World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2010, are the global meetings of the worlds press, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). There is still time to join more than 1,000 newspaper publishers, chief editors, managing directors and other senior newspaper executives in Beirut, Lebanon, from 7 to 10 June next: full details are available at www.wanlebanon2010.com.
Mr Contreras joined The E. W. Scripps Company in 2005 and was promoted a year later to his current position of Senior Vice President/Newspapers, where he oversees the day-to-day operations and strategic direction of the Scripps newspaper division, its daily and community newspapers in 13 markets, innovative web-based information services and other related businesses.
He has a long history in the US newspaper business and holds a bachelors degree from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a graduate of the Advanced Executive Program of The Newspaper Management Center at Northwestern University and was selected by The Aspen Institute as one of 20 Henry Crown Fellows.
Other confirmed speakers for the Congress include:
Tim Brooks, Managing Director of Guardian News and Media Ltd., who is responsible for Guardian Media Groups core division, which publishes the Guardian and the Observer as well as the Guardian.co.uk website, which attracts more than 36 million unique users a month. With a focus on expanding audiences beyond the UK borders, the Guardian is expanding the definition of a newspaper in the digital age.
Rainer Esser, Managing Director of Germanys Die Zeit, which has seen substantial subscriber growth over the past seven years, thanks to a focus on target audiences, core competencies and a willingness to adopt new ideas.
Jack Matthews, Chief Executive Officer, Fairfax Digital in Australia, the online division of Fairfax Media. Fairfax Digital is responsible for Australias leading online news sites and responsible for many of Australias category leading transaction sites.
Torry Pedersen, CEO, Verdens Gang, Norway, which includes Norways most profitable and most read news site. Mr Pedersen is well known for recognising early that print and online news operations have different formats and different attributes and for exploiting these successfully. VG has been a leader in web-TV, user-generated content and other multimedia initiatives that have made it a magnet for consumers and advertisers alike.
Alfredo Triviño, Director of Creative Projects for News International in the United Kingdom, who will speak in a joint Congress and Editors Forum session devoted to the new surge in electronic readers for books, notably tablets, and the multiplication of mobile devices with easy and comfortable access to news sites.
Oliver Fleurot, the CEO for Public Relations, Corporate and Financial Communications and Events Management for Publicis Groupe. Mr Fleurot, a former Chief Executive of the Financial Times, believes not enough is known about advertising effectiveness on the web and more research is needed.
Roman Gallo, the CEO of PPF Media, whose “Nase Adresa” (Our Address) in the Czech Republic is one of the most talked about hyper-local news projects in the world. PPF Media is in the process of blanketing the country with 200 different hyper-local weeklies, whose reporting teams are based in company “news cafes”. The combination of newsrooms and Internet bistros is designed to facilitate contacts with readers and potential sources (and also bring in revenue).
Mohamed Alayyan, the Chairman of Al Ghad newspaper, the leading independent daily newspaper in Jordan, which has been at the forefront of multimedia development built around the core value of providing relevant, local content, no matter what the platform.
François Dufour, Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Play Bac Presse in France, who will present new evidence that children and their families do, in fact, continue to read newspapers in print – and often prefer it to digital delivery.
Per Bowallius, President of GISAB in Sweden, a Stampen Group company that has “conquered” the capital, Stockholm, with a string of suburban freesheets that ring the city and provides a compelling product for advertisers and readers alike. The company has found a new avenue to success in a highly competitive market.
The events will be accompanied by a rich social programme, tours, meetings with local and international political, business and cultural leaders, and more. Among the highlights: an opening cocktail at the Couvent St Jean, a convent on a hillside above the city; a Lebanese folklore evening on the Mediterranean in Byblos, said to be the oldest inhabited city in the world; and a gala closing dinner at the Beiteddine Palace, the former seat of the Lebanese Emirs.
The events will be opened by the Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, and will be hosted by the An-Nahar newspaper.