Empowerment Forums
In the present complex market phenomenon, collectively endeavours in research, development and dissemination of outcomes educating the associated individuals are inevitable activities for the empowerment of every industry. And in newspaper industry, WAN and IFRA are the organisations that are performing really superb jobs in this perspective. Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom and the professional and business interests of newspapers worldwide. Representing 18,000 newspapers, its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and worldwide press groups. Headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, IFRA is the worldwide research and service organisation for the news publishing industry. Since 1961, it has been acting as the platform for decision-makers from the newspaper industry, offering services primarily to its more than 3,100 members in nearly 80 countries. A board, comprising publishers as well as central, regional and specialised committees drawn from IFRA member companies, steers the work of the international newspaper community. IFRA’s research work provides the basis for this and results in standardisation projects as well as international and regional exhibitions, conferences, workshops, study tours, training events, Newsplex consulting and international competitions. The IFRA Expo, the annual event of the news publishing industry held at major European venues, is world’s one of the most important trade exhibitions for newspaper companies and their partners.
As the on-going activities of these two organisations are undoubtedly deemed constructive for everyone associated with the industry, we introduce a new segment ‘EMPOWERMENT FORUMS’ among the content of All About Newspapers, precisely covering significant news and activities driven by them, and hope it would inform well to all of you.
IFRA International Newspaper
Color Quality Club revamped
The IFRA International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC)—the only worldwide quality printing competition for newspapers, which has been organised every two years since 1994 by IFRA with the support of the newspaper associations NAA (North America) and PANPA (Australia) as well as ZMG Zeitungs Marketing Gesellschaft (Germany)—has been completely revised, with new rules, categories and a new time schedule. With these innovations, the Club, which has become well-established in the last fifteen years as the quality standard for the international news publishing industry, has come into line with the latest developments in modern newspaper printing and opened up for new interested parties. Here’s a brief.
Relentlessly setting up new standards for newspaper printing quality worldwide, IFRA International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC) 2010–2012 would welcome the participants in new form. The organisers have already initiated preparations for the next round in the competition. Online registration for candidates competing for membership in the INCQC 2010–2012 will be open from May 2009, with several important changes to the routine followed in previous competitions, especially concerning the time schedule and operational plan.
The new operational plan is as follows: registration (online) from May to end December 2009, production of the monthly test prints and submission between January and April 2010, final evaluation and announcement of the new Club members in June 2010, and presentation of the winners during IFRA Expo in October 2010. This considerably reduces the time that elapses from when the test prints are produced up to their evaluation and announcement of the results. Under early registration bonus, one can register by 16 October 2009 (cut-off date) and take part in a free test run with evaluation report in order to detect any possible need for print production optimisation in good time.
Also important are the revised competition rules that reduce the time and effort invested by the participants, without detracting from the informational value of the test results. On the contrary: for the first time, it is not only a once-off produced result that will be evaluated, but the consistency of printing quality over a four-month period. Intermediate reports will inform the participants about their progress. For purposes of the printing tests, a newly-developed test element will be used that resembles a colour ad and is as wide as a standard text column. Therefore, it can be incorporated into the regular issue without appearing out of place. This will make the test more practice-oriented and simpler to carry out.
The creation of additional categories also opens up the competition for the first time also to newspapers that work with heatset or UV or that are printed by a process other than coldset-offset and, instead of newsprint, for example, use SC, LWC or pink-tinted paper. This takes due account also of the growing trend towards semi-commercial production.
Other than in the past, Club membership will no longer be limited to fifty newspapers. It is not the fifty newspapers with the highest number of points that are the winners, but all that show they can produce within the tolerances specified by the ISO 12647-3 newspaper printing standard and that present an overall good printing quality. Manifest quality deficiencies, such as mis-register, wrinkles, printing plate edges, toning, etc, will result in points being deducted. Achieving a given number of points is alone decisive for attaining membership in the exclusive Color Quality Club.
New dates confirmed for
World Newspaper Congress 09
The World Association of Newspapers has confirmed the new dates for its World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo, the global meetings of the world’s press, which will now be held in Hyderabad, India, from Nov 30- Dec 3, 2009. WAN announced last month that the events, originally scheduled for March, would be postponed until later in the year due to the impact of the global financial downturn on travel and conference budgets in many newspaper companies.
“Our Indian colleagues have done a fantastic job in rescheduling all the arrangements, which is not an easy job for an event of such size and scope.We believe newspaper companies will, by necessity, learn to live with the crisis over the year and be more willing to invest again in conferences and travel by the end of the year. These events have long been a major opportunity for newspaper executives from around the globe to meet and exchange strategic ideas, and the need for such exchanges is more important than ever,” said Timothy Balding, the CEO of WAN. Last year’s events drew more than 1,800 participants from 113 countries to Göteborg, Sweden, a record for the 61-year old conference.
Relationships to
explore world’s ad market!
Now more than ever, newspapers must communicate the value and effectiveness of their advertising to the agencies that control much of the world’s ad market. A new report from the World Association of Newspapers helps them just do that. “Building Relationships with Advertising Agencies,” published by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper (SFN) project exclusively for WAN members, helps publishers and advertising agencies understand each other’s needs better to help them build better relationships. The report’s main objective is to help newspapers better communicate with agencies to maximise their revenue-making potential.
Most newspapers depend on advertising agencies for a percentage of their advertising revenues. In the United Kingdom, national newspapers receive about eighty percent of their display advertising revenues from ad agency clients, while regional newspapers receive about twenty percent. In the United States, national newspapers receive ninety percent of display advertising revenue from agencies, while local newspapers receive about ten percent. The rest is earned from in-house departments and selling advertising to local clients. The benefits of building a better relationship with agencies include more advertising volume and share of the market, access to more potential clients, getting earlier information on upcoming campaigns, more information for building cross-platform deals, and access to more people in the agency.
WAN is a leading provider of industry research and analysis through its ‘Shaping the Future of the Newspaper’ projects, which identifies, analyses and publicises all important breakthroughs and opportunities that can benefit newspapers all over the world. SFN offers WAN members strategy reports on these developments, a library of case studies and business ideas, and a wealth of other vital information for all those who need to follow press industry trends. WAN conducts the SFN project with support from four international partners: manroland, a leading company for newspaper production systems; Telenor,
the leading Norwegian telecommunications, IT and media group; Atex, the leading supplier of solutions and services for advertising, content management, circulation and online applications; and Norske Skog, a world leading producer of newsprint and magazine paper.
IFRA Expo '10 set to dock in Hamburg
The organisers, IFRA, and the Hamburg Messe & Congress announced that the leading international exhibition for the news publishing and media industries, IFRA Expo 2010 (Oct 4-6) would be held in the maritime city of Hamburg. It is the first time when the exhibition will be one day shorter than usual, but accompanying congress events are planned for up to and including 7 October. The decision for this venue was taken in close consultation with the IFRA Expo exhibitors. The IFRA Expo advisory council voted by more than ninety percent in favour of Hamburg.
“With its new exhibition grounds, the cosmopolitan city of Hamburg, a leading media centre in Germany, offers an outstanding infrastructure for the leading exhibition of the news publishing industry. The level of auxiliary costs connected to the exhibition, an increasingly important factor for our exhibitors and visitors, is also extremely low in Hamburg. Therefore we are looking forward very much to a successful IFRA Expo 2010 on the northern seaboard,” commented Reiner Mittelbach, IFRA CEO. “The Hanseatic city of Hamburg, with its major publishing houses and more than 21,000 media and IT companies, is a centre of the industry and therefore an ideal venue for IFRA Expo,” added Bernd Aufderheide, chairman of the Board of Hamburg Messe und Congress This year’s IFRA Expo is happening from October 12-15, 2009 in Vienna, over 140 exhibitors have already been registered for the exhibition.
Seventy journalists
killed worldwide in 2008
Seventy journalists and other media employees were killed worldwide (in 23 countries and territories) because of their professional activities in 2008, with the conflict in Iraq continuing to be the most deadly assignment for journalists, said the World Association of Newspapers.
Fourteen journalists were killed in Iraq last year, compared to 44 in 2007. India and Pakistan were the second deadliest countries for journalists and other media employees in 2008, with seven killed in each. In 2007, no journalist had died violently in India, while five had been murdered in Pakistan.
The 2008 death toll, compares with 95 killed last year, 110 killed in 2006, 58 killed in 2005, and 72 killed in 2004. Nine journalists have already been killed in 2009, in Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Russia, Sri Lanka, Somalia (where two were killed) and Venezuela.
Publish Asia combined with
IFRA Expo India 2009 : Chennai, Sept 23-25, 09
Due to the recent socio-political turmoil that rocked whole lot of Bangkok and triggered travel restrictions by many countries, IFRA has decided to combine Publish Asia 2009 with IFRA India annual conference and Expo into one event to be held in Chennai this year. Publish Asia 2009 was scheduled to be held in Bangkok in May while IFRA India in Hyderabad. However, both the events will be staged together under one roof from 23-25 September 2009 at Chennai Trade and Convention Centre, Chennai.
Opting Chennai as new venue for the three-day fair is strategic as this South Indian city will be more easily accessible to foreign delegates. This combined event will offer market opportunities for every company supplying products and services to the newspaper and media industry to present their best and innovative solutions to the Asia Pacific and South Asian key decision makers. Magdoom Mohammed, MD of IFRA India said, “The idea of a combined event is most welcome given the cost savings and the added exposure.”
Common platform
Exhibitors at the fair will be the industry’s top technology and service providers showcasing their latest product and service developments that would provide publishers a vital resource for keeping up with industry challenges. The combined event under the theme ‘Creating Value in Challenging Times’ will feature a CEO Conference for senior decision makers and a Production Conference focusing on cost productions, revenue generation and innovation.
The conference and learning workshops will be held together with IFRA India, which in its second edition, has become the second largest newspaper trade show in the world after the IFRA Expo in Europe. Commenting on this latest development, Thomas Jacob, IFRA deputy CEO and MD for Greater Asia Pacific mentioned, “With the economic crisis in the background, we believe that combining the resources and bringing out one world-class event will benefit our stakeholders, the newspapers, the suppliers active in the Middle East, Asia and the Indian subcontinent.”
Media awards
Another main attraction at the sidelines of the fair will be the 8th IFRA Asia Media Awards Gala Dinner to be organised on September 24 to honour the best among newspapers and magazines in colour printing, design, information graphics, photography, special supplements, online publishing and use of cross-media for editorial and advertising offerings.
A welcome move
Pichai Chuensuksawadi, editor-in-chief of Bangkok Post and chairman of IFRA Asia Pacific Committee, welcomed the decision as inevitable and in the best interests of IFRA members. K Balaji, director of The Hindu and chairman of IFRA South Asian Committee, felt that in view of the severe recession being experienced by the publishing industry, a combined event focusing on current issues is a precise move, which is sure to find acceptance in the publishing industry.
Echoing the sentiments of the supply industry, Peter Kirwan, VP, Asia Pacific Sales, Goss Graphics said, “Under the present circumstances, such a move makes perfect sense. The merger of the two events for 2009 will allow IFRA and the suppliers to the newspaper industry to deliver a focused event. The larger Expo will be an added attraction for all Asian newspaper production executives who planned to attend Publish Asia 09’s Production conference. Goss fully supports the move and is glad to be in a position to play an active role in this combined event.”
