Germany's Die Zeit Joins WNC

Germany's Die Zeit Joins Programme at World Newspaper Congress

Paris, France and Darmstadt, Germany, 21 April 2010 For immediate release

While many newspapers are fighting to maintain circulation, Germany's Die Zeit continues to grow, thanks to quality journalism, editorial diversity and a bit of rebelliousness. Rainer Esser, the Managing Director, will share his views on what leads to successful publishing at the World Newspaper Congress, to be held in Beirut, Lebanon, from 7 to 10 June next.

Die Zeit, Germany's leading weekly, has seen substantial subscriber growth over the past seven years, which Mr Esser attributes to satisfying target audiences, concentrating on core competencies and a willingness to adopt new ideas.

We have to innovate all the time, and we have to have rebels," he has said.

"Most important are the people who are responsible for our product. You can get along very well without reading a newspaper so we have to prove that we are necessary. We have to come up with new ideas, great authors, and editorial craftsmanship."

Changing the newsroom to reflect the needs of the audience has also been key. "We used to have people with degrees in politics who had been to journalism school. Today, we have more women, we have scientists. It's more creative when you have diversity in your editorial team."

Around 1,500 publishers, CEOs, managing directors, chief editors and other senior newspaper executives and their guests are expected to attend the Congress, 17th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2010, the global meetings of the world's press organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and hosted by the An-Nahar newspaper. Full details are available at http://www.wanlebanon2010.com

Other confirmed speakers for the Congress include:

- Tim Brooks, Managing Director of Guardian News and Media Ltd., who is responsible for Guardian Media Group's 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.

- Mark Contreras, Senior Vice President of E.W. Scripps Co., who is responsible for the company's newspaper division, which operates daily and community newspapers in 14 markets in the United States. Mr Contreras is at the forefront of the search for new business models for the future of newspapers.

- Jack Matthews, Chief Executive Officer, Fairfax Digital in Australia, the online division of Fairfax Media. Fairfax Digital is responsible for Australia¹s leading online news sites and responsible for many of Australia¹s category leading transaction sites.

- Torry Pedersen, CEO, Verdens Gang, Norway, which includes Norway's 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 ¹tablets¹, 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, as always, 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.

For the evolving programmes, registration information and other details, visit http://www.wanlebanon2010.com

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world¹s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

ENDS

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