Newspaper & Mailroom

Digital Innovation Takes Centre Stage at World Newspaper Congress

Thursday 19. July 2012 - Mikael Pentikäinen, Publisher and Senior Editor-in-chief of the Helsingin Sanomat in Finland, has joined a stellar session on digital innovations at the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, which will examine how digital investments are paying off for newspaper companies around the world.

Mr Pentikäinen’s company is an early leader in charging for digital access. More than a third of the Helsinki daily’s print subscribers have signed up – at additional cost – to digital premium content.
The session on digital innovation at the Congress and Editors Forum, to be held from 2 to 5 September next in Kiev, Ukraine, also includes Tor Jacobsen, Managing Director of Schibsted-owned Verdens Gang in Norway, renowned as a digital pioneer; Mark Challinor, Head of mobile for The Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom; Simon Regan-Edwards, Head of Technology for The Times and Sunday Times in the United Kingdom; Christoph Keese, Head of public relations for Axel Springer in Germany; Annelies van den Belt, CEO of online publisher SUP in Russia, Europe’s fastest growing internet market; Dietmar Schantin, Founder of the Institute of Media Strategies in Austria and an expert on multimedia newsroom integration; and Morten Henriksen, General Manger of Publish Lab in Norway.
More than 1,000 newspaper publishers, chief editors and other senior newspaper executives from more than 100 countries are expected to attend the 64th World Newspaper Congress and 19th World Editors Forum, the global summit meetings of the world’s press organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
WAN-IFRA has also launched a Congress and Forum blog, with background information about speakers, the venue, and some of the hot topics
Other Congress sessions include:
– Reeling in readers and advertisers, a session dedicated to audience development featuring John Cruickshank, Publisher of the Toronto Star in Canada, Laura Evans, Chief Experience Officer of the Washington Post in the United States, Cathy Ma, head of Social Media for Time Inc.’s IPC Media, and Viktoria Mizerna, Editor of Mass Media Development for The Day in Ukraine.
– Around the world in 60 minutes, a tour of the latest media trends emerging world-wide, featuring Tomas Brunegård, CEO of Stampen Group in Sweden, Carlos Fernando Lindenberg Neto, CEO of Rede Gazeta in Brazil, Caroline Little, President and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America; Mohamad Alayyan, Publishers and Chairman, United Jordan Press, Pichai Chuensuksawadi, Editor in Chief of The Bangkok Post in Thailand, Trevor Ncube, Deputy Executive Chairman of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, and Maxim Melnikov, CEO, Media3, Russia.
– Winners shaping the future, a look at some of the more successful new business models, technology and forms of journalism emerging today, featuring Michael Golden, Vice Chairman of the New York Times Company, Greg Hywood, Chief Executive Officer of Australia-based Fairfax Media, Gwen Lister, founder and Editor-in-chief of The Namibian, and Tor Halvorsen and Vidar Herre, News Editor and photojournalist, respectively, with Avisa Hordaland in Norway.
– Leadership: Steering the new news organisation, featuring Anna Kirah, Senior Design and Innovation Anthropologist with Steria in Norway, Earl Wilkinson, Executive Director and CEO of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA), Bill McDonald, President and Publisher of Metro English in Canada, Rod Banner, founder of the advertising agency Banner Corporation, and John Filippaki, Publisher of Dimokratia in Greece.
– New revenue strategies, which will examine new – and more importantly, sustainable – growth strategies, featuring Jacob Møller, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions for Schibsted in Sweden, Florian Bauer, Board member of Vocatus in Germany, Leonyd Bershidsky, Editor-in-Chief, of Forbes magazine in Ukraine, and other speakers to be announced.
– Print plus, which examines innovations in print, the primary source of revenue for newspaper publishers, featuring Rainer Esser, CEO of Die Zeit in Germany, Amandeep Singh Khurana, Chief Operating Officer of Madison Media Plus in India, and Johan Malmsten, Co-founder and CEO of Netherlands-based European Daily.
– Lessons from emerging markets, where digital media in particular is developing rapidly, featuring Anne Nelson, Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in the United States, William Pike, CEO of Star Publications in Kenya, and other speakers to be announced.
– 30 ideas in 30 minutes, which will present winning strategies for attracting the young, featuring Aralynn McMane, Executive Director of Young Reader Development at WAN-IFRA, Gregory Kunis, Managing Director of Moi Rayon in Russia, and other speakers to announced.
– Innovations in Newspapers 2012, the annual Congress and Editors Forum session on the most interesting developments in the newspaper industry, by the Innovations International Media Consulting Group and presented by Innovations Partner Juan Señor.
– World Press Trends, the annual “State of the Industry” presentation, with a look at global and regional figures on trends in circulation, readership, revenue and advertising, in both digital and print, presented by Larry Kilman, Deputy CEO of WAN-IFRA.
– Plus much more!
Alongside the World Newspaper Congress and the World Editors Forum, Info Services Expo 2012 will present innovative solutions from the international suppliers’ community. The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to meet the leading suppliers to the newspaper industry and discover cutting-edge products, services and technologies.
As always, the events are accompanied by an array of social events, gala dinners and lunches and are considered to be the premier opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world.