During the 69th WAN-IFRA annual congress in Durban, South Africa, Michael Golden, vice chairman of the Board of New York Times, was elected president of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. The association also appointed a new treasurer and a new president of the World Editors Forum. Sixteen executives from leading news media companies were also elected to new terms on the boards of WAN-IFRA and the World Editors Forum.
Michael Golden was elected by WAN-IFRA members at the World News Media Congress, World Editors Forum and Women in News Summit in Durban, South Africa. Approximately 700 publishers, editors, journalists, and other senior news executives from around the world attended the events. The conferences can be followed on the congress blog and on Twitter, #wnc17.
Michael Golden succeeds Tomas Brunegard, who was elected president of WAN-IFRA in 2013. Together with Paul Verwilt (Mediahuis, Belgium), who was elected new treasurer of the organisation at the same meeting, David Callaway (The Street, USA) and Kevin Beatty (Daily Mail Group), they will form the new presidency of WAN-IFRA for the two coming years.
“What I was able to help the New York Times do, and what I’d like to help WAN-IFRA do, is to reverse some of the current trends that are going on in the world. Media freedom is going the wrong direction in many parts of the world. Building on the tradition of WAN-IFRA to increase the dialogue about that, bring awareness to it, and underscore the importance of the role that media plays in informing citizens and making society work better,” said Michael Golden in an interview. “Being elected as president of WAN-IFRA is an honor and I take it as a vote of confidence. It is the opportunity to build on what we’ve done, and help the professionals operating independent media adjust their business models and prosper,” he added.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
– Naresh Khanna
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