Durban hosts world’s media

The 69th edition of the World’s Media Congress has successfully ended in the South African “Green City” of Durban. It is organised annually by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), alongside the World Editors Forum which has long served as the meeting point for print media publishers, digital directors; chief executive officers; editors, media management consultants and advertising moguls coming from all corners of the globe to participate and engage in shaping the media landscape for creating a just world to enhance press freedom and global peaceful coexistence.

The World’s News Media Congress addresses emerging business models and practices, while the World’s Editors Forum tackles journalistic challenges and opportunities. As a rule, the theme for the Durban Congress which hosted over 700 participants was five (5) fold:- “New Revenue Pillars, Trust and Quality, The Next Big Project, CEOs Road maps to Renewals and Future Tools, Future Concepts.

The congress is preceded by the Board and Committee of Directors’ meeting where major policy decisions are taken, as well as the elections or endorsement of board members. The Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana, who is a member of WAN-IFRA duly nominated Mrs Edith Dunkwa of the Business and Financial Times to serve on the WAN-IFRA Board in replacement of the long-serving Mrs Gina Blay of the Daily Guide who is currently serving as Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany.

New leadership for wan-ifra board

During the 69th WAN-IFRA’s 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 elected a new Treasurer, Paul Verwilt (Mediahuis, Belgium). The World’s Editors Forum also elected David Callaway (CEO of theStreet.com, USA) as President, with Helje Solberg (CEO of VGTV, Norway) as Vice-President. Together, they shall constitute the Executive Committee of WAN-IFRA for the next two (2) years.

Women in media

The congress, among several topics, discussed WOMEN IN NEWS (WIN). This project is funded by the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The WIN project aims to increase women’s leadership and voices in the news. It does so by equipping female journalists and editors with skills, strategies and support networks to take greater leadership positions within their respective media houses. WIN is currently working in countries where gender inequality in the media is quite high. In Africa, the WIN project is being executed in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Egypt and in the Middle East countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.

Significantly, Ghana is globally acclaimed to have improved on media freedom and gender equality in the media. We are currently ranked the 2nd Freest Media in Africa next only to Namibia and have quite a fairly proportionate representation of women serving on the boards and management of the state-owned media and active women media practitioners in the private sector cutting across radio, television, print and online media.

Print media and digital media debate

Another topic that attracted wider and bigger audience during the three-day congress was the controversy surrounding the old traditional print media (newspapers) and the new online (digital) publishing debate.

In a presentation on readership data conducted from 2007-2017 on 51 selected newspapers in the United States of America, the findings of the study proved that newspapers can hardly die. This goes to prove wrong the pessimists of the old traditional media that “digital media will kill the print media.”
WAN-IFRA, however, supports and promotes the ongoing transformation within the print media-digital divide and asserts that “digital and newspaper products can and should work alongside each other.” They can both be profitable, both complement each other, both be technologically driven and both be very high standard to satisfy global audience and readership.

World press trends (2017)

In its 2016 World Press Trends study, WAN-IFRA estimates that 56 per cent of newspapers overall revenue come from circulation sales (print and digital). The data is provided by its media associations. Interestingly, it was revealed in a presentation by the Chief Executive Officer of WAN-IFRA, Vincent Peyregne, that “people around the world are not only losing their trust in the media, but societal institutions in general”. He remarked that “the decline in trust is the biggest risk we face as an industry, and our efforts must be with the aim of restoring the lost trust.”

Portugal hosts world media in 2018

The WAN-IFRA invites the world's press to attend the 70th World News Media Congress and 25th World Editors Forum, which will be held in the Estoril Convention Centre in the City of Cascais, Portugal, from 6 to 8 June, 2018.

The WAN-IFRA’s core mission is to protect the rights of journalists and media executives across the world to operate freely and provide its members with professional services to help their businesses grow in a digital world to perform their crucial roles in open societies. Also it has formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

WAN-IFRA derives its authority from its global network of leading news publishing companies and advertising executives and technology entrepreneurs and its 80-member media association representing over 18,000 publications in 120 countries.

The writer is the Acting President of the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) and a member of the Committee of Directors of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). His trip was sponsored by KENPONG TRAVEL & TOURS