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.
