Martha Ramos, Mexico, President, with David Walmsley, Canada, Deputy President.
The Board of the World Editors Forum (WEF) has elected Martha Ramos, the editorial director of Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), Mexico, as President, with David Walmsley, Editor-in-Chief of the Globe and Mail, Canada, serving as Deputy President.
These respected newsroom leaders will steer the global community of editors at a critical time for journalism. With extensive newsroom experience, a record of enterprising initiatives and a dedication to journalism, both agree this is an important moment for editors to unite and support each other in the face of unprecedented challenges.
Martha Ramos heads the editorial operations of OEM, Mexico’s biggest print media company and the largest newspaper company in Latin America. She has been an active member of the WEF board since 2017 and has contributed to establishing Wan-Ifra’s Women in News initiative in LatAM. Ramos is chair of the inclusion and diversity Committee for SIP/IAPA, chair of the Alianza de Medios Mx, and serves on the board of the Inter-American Press Association. She is a former editor of El Universal, a former web editor of Publimetro Mexico and a former editorial director of Diario 24 Horas.
“The World Editors Forum is a determining voice in defence of freedom of speech, and this is critical, as the times we live in are a challenge for journalism,” notes Ramos. “Inspired by the commitment and professionalism of my colleagues at WEF, I will seek to promote such important issues as evolution in the newsroom, the inclusion of women in decision-making positions and the safety of reporters in their daily work.”
David Walmsley has led the Globe and Mail to multiple national journalism awards during his nine-year tenure as editor. He is the creator of World News Day, and co-creator of the Toronto Moral Injury Scale for Journalists, the world’s only psychometric scale for detecting moral injury in journalists. “We need to convey more clearly why journalism is important,” says Walmsley. “I believe there is enormous advantage in editors from all walks of life coming together to share their challenges and their ideals. We need to support one another like never before.”
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.
