Three ‘Media Port’ topics at
World
Publishing Expo
Content, Revenue and The Power of
Print – these are three events for Media
Port presentation stages that will be
embedded in World Publishing Expo to be
held from October 13-15, 2014 in Amsterdam.
With topics as diverse as Paywall 2.0, Digital
Printing, Responsive Design, Video: Monetisation,
Content Management: Tools & Efficiency and
much more, the free Media Port presentations
are set to offer participants a wide range of
added values during their visits.
The free ‘Media Port’ events, to be organised
on three stages scattered throughout World
Publishing Expo, will feature collaborations
between publishers and suppliers. These special
events will also provide case studies on what
it can help publishers. The paid events – 13th
International Newsroom Summit, 7th Tablet and
App Summit, and 1st World Printers Forum – are
for top-level industry executives and editors and
will be a platform for discussion over strategies
for the future of news publishing.
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Altana Group invests €100 million
in
Landa digital printing
The specialty chemicals group ALTANA
and Landa Corporation have concluded an
equity financing agreement under which the
latter will invest €100 million (~US$135 million)
for a minority stake in Landa Digital Printing
(www.landanano.com). Both companies see the
agreement not only as a financial investment, but
also as a starting point for a long-term strategic
partnership to bring digital printing solutions to
the commercial, packaging and publishing markets.
Other units of the Landa Group, including Landa
Labs and Landa Ventures, are not included in
the transaction.
The proceeds will be used for completing the
development of Nanography (www.landanano.
com/nanography), Landa’s water-based digital
printing process, including engineering and
production ramp-up of Landa Nanographic
Printing Presses (www.landanano.com/products)
and building of manufacturing plants for Landa
NanoInk (www.landanano.com/nanography/
nanoink) colorants.
ALTANA is expected to be an active partner,
drawing on print industry expertise gained
from its divisions including BYK Additives
& Instruments, ECKART Effect Pigments,
and ACTEGA Coatings & Sealants. “We are
extremely excited to be partnering with an
industry visionary like Benny Landa. We speak
the same language in terms of innovation,”
says Dr Matthias L Wolfgruber, CEO, ALTANA
AG. He adds, “I am confident that we are
investing in a game-changing technology that
can enable the printing industry to thrive in the
21st century and help our customers position
themselves well for the future.”
We see our alliance with the ALTANA Group as
a key milestone for our company and a strong
vote of confidence in our mission to bring digital
printing to mainstream commercial, packaging
and publishing markets,” says Benny Landa,
chairman and CEO, Landa Corporation. He adds
that ALTANA brings a wealth of relevant industry
and market experience as well as worldwide
manufacturing expertise, which will be of great
value as they expand their presence globally.
nnn
Antoine Chevalier
appointed as
MD of manroland
web systems
France SAS On the part of manroland web systems
GmbH, Antoine Chevalier has
been appointed as MD of its new
organisation manroland web systems France
SAS, a newly established subsidiary. On this
new move, Joern Gossé, MD, manroland web
systems says, “We rely on the close partnership
and cooperation with our customers. As shown
before in other key markets, we constantly
expand our local service offerings. The
new subsidiary works closely with experts
from the production site in Augsburg. Main
target is to offer a competitive service to
our customers.”
nnn
Matthew Hutchison
joins Tribune
Publishing Tribune Publishing
appoints Matthew
Hutchison
asseniorvice
president of corporate
communications.
Mathew will lead the
overall communications
strategy for Tribune
Publishing Company
following its separation
from Tribune Company. Based in Chicago, he
will report to Tribune Publishing chief executive
officer Jack Griffin. “Matthew is an exceptional
corporate communications and media professional,
with a unique blend of corporate, consumer
and digital media expertise,” said Jack adding
that he is a strong addition to the company’s
experienced management team. Prior to joining
Tribune Publishing, Matthew served as VP of
corporate communications for CBS Interactive
and before that he served as director of Global
Consumer Communications for Dell Computer.
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Agfa Graphics introduces
new
6-up Avalon N16-80 XT
Avalon N16-80 XT is the newest
addition to Agfa Graphics’ family of
high-end thermal platesetter systems.
Based on proven technology in other Agfa
Graphics solutions assuring continued
reliability, this new top line model comes as
a fully configurable solution, features high
speed and a superb imaging quality aimed
at the high-production market, including the
packaging segment. “Avalon N16-80 XT
is added to our offering in the high-end
segment,” said Bruno Lepage, marketing
product manager CtP equipment commercial
& packaging, Agfa Graphics.
“Both the quality and the speed are extremely
attractive to large commercial as well as
packaging printers. As the engine also supports
the adapted plate sizes used on most recent
presses, it is the perfect fit to the 16-up/
format 6 market,” mentioned Bruno. All Avalon
models seamlessly integrate with Agfa Graphics’
PDF-based Apogee workflow to provide highquality
automated plate production control for
publishing, commercial and packaging printing
business.
nnn
Alaska Dispatch Publishing signs
long-term agreement with NEWSCYCLE
To install NEWSCYCLE’s advertising,
circulation and content management
systems for print and digital news
properties, Alaska Dispatch Publishing in
Anchorage has signed a long-term agreement
with NEWSCYCLE Solutions. The new software
will be deployed in NEWSCYCLE’s cloudhosted
platform and includes the company’s
analytics software for the advertising and
circulation systems.
With NEWSCYCLE’s integrated systems
managing the media company’s end-to-end
business and production
processes, Alaska
Dispatch Publishing will
increase collaboration
and productivity levels
through opt imised
print and digital workflows—establishing new
operational efficiencies enterprise-wide. The new
analytics software offers the group instant access
to business performance information through the
NEWSCYCLE Advertising and NEWSCYCLE
Circulation systems.
nnn
Entries open
for Asian
Environmental
Journalism Awards
Singapore Environment Council (SEC)
opens its doors to applications for the
Asian Environmental Journalism Awards
2014 (AEJA) with the introduction of a new
category called ‘SEC Young Environmental
Journalist of the
Year’ category
target in gat
youth aged 18
to 27. “This
new category
is crucial to
garnering the
interest of
many young
journalists whose works have been published
in professional publications to be more involved
with environmental journalism,” said Jose
Raymond, CEO, SEC.
The six award categories for AEJA 2014 are:
SEC-CDL Environmental Journalist of the Year;
SEC Young Environmental Journalist of the Year;
SEC-Coca-Cola Environmental Story of the Year;
SEC-Sky Creation Design Environmental Blogger
of the Year; SEC-CITIC Telecom International
Environmental Photograph of the Year; and SECLee
Foundation Excellence in Environmental
Reporting by a Media Organisation. Launched
in 2012, AEJA is Asia’s first journalism awards
for the environment which encourages the media
and its professional and citizen journalists
across Asia.
nnn
App-Explorer arrives
at red.web
The future belongs to the next generation. That’s why the red.
web-team is very happy to welcome two new team members,
Sandra
Elgaß and Niki
Radtke, who
explore the
opportunities for
the site in the
digital and mobile
business. They
travel, test and
wander on behalf
of the software
experts from
Koblenz. Their
first goal is the
development of an
innovative newsapp
for regional
and local content.
By employing
Sandra and Niki,
red.web once more
emphasises the
belief that a close cooperation between developers of publishing
software and journalists is essential.
Both new colleagues completed two years of training to become
editors at daily newspaper Rhein-Zeitung before they signed up
with red.web. As journalists, Sandra and Niki focused on Online
Journalism, Multimedia Journalism and Social Media. Their
involvement is due to a strategic decision of the heads of the
publishing house who focus on digital business getting boomed
and Mittelrhein-Verlag and red.web are determined to participate
with new ideas and products. That’s why the new department for
‘digital projects’ was founded under the roof of software experts
at Mittelrhein-Verlag.
nnn
Ten-year sentences for
Myanmar
journalists condemned
WAN-IFRA and World Editors Forum
have denounced the sentencing of four
journalists and CEO of Myanmar’s Unity
Journal to ten-year imprisonment with hard labour
for a story that detailed allegations of a secret
chemical weapons factory. The global organisations
in their letter to Myanmar president Thein Sein
expressed that the arrest of media professionals
for simply doing their job can never be justified,
while punishing reporting into an issue of such
clear public interest is a devastating blow to the
country’s democratic aspirations.
In its letter to president Sein, WAN-IFRA
raised international concerns over a perceived
political element to the verdict as evidence
of further backsliding in press freedoms ove
recent months. The association articulated
that they deeply concerned over allegations
of political involvement in the trial as well
as the chilling effect such a severe sentence
transmits to the wider journalistic community
in Myanmar.
nnn
Neeraj Dargan to lead
manroland
Sheetfed subsidiary in India
With offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai
manroland Sheetfed GmbH has established
its own subsidiary in India which will
be headquartered in New Delhi with
local offices in Mumbai and Chennai. Neeraj
Dargan heads up the new manroland Sheetfed
operations as managing director. Neeraj brings
a wealth of experience, having spent more than
30 years in the field of sales & marketing,
technical, operations and commercial, in capital
goods and consumables for the print and graphic
art sector.
“I am delighted to be heading the new manroland
sheetfed subsidiary to expand the company’s
APAC (Asia Pacific) operations. My localmarket
experience will enable to better serve
the group's existing client base and with yearon-
year growth in India’s printing industry, I am
looking forward to the challenges," said Neeraj.
nnn
Tim Mercy appointed as MD of
GOSS in Asia Pacific region
GOSS International has promoted Tim
Mercy to the newly created position
of MD – Asia Pacific. He now leads
the unified GOSS sales, service and support
organisation serving commercial, packaging and
newspaper operations throughout the region,
with the exception of China. Tim most recently
served as a VP of sales for GOSS in Asia. He
has represented the company in that region and
provided specialised expertise to its customers for
the past 20 years. He has 40 years of experience
in the graphic arts industry, including 30 years
with Goss, Heidelberg Web Systems and Harris.
The appointment of Tim continues the alignment
of GOSS based on four
regional centres responsible
for highly responsive sales,
service and customer
support functions in the
Americas, Asia, China and
Europe, according to Rick Nichols, president &
CEO, GOSS. “Tim has been a valued resource
for printers, publishers and converters throughout
Asia for two decades,” Rick explains. He adds
that Tim is uniquely qualified to unify and lead
the GOSS team in that region and to help the
company continue to deliver the highest levels
of value, product performance and support.
nnn
NELA announces successful
first half of 2014 in Latin America
NELA has closed multiple orders in Latin
America during the first half of the year
and is expected to complete several
installations this quarter. Jorge Suárez, director of
sales and marketing of NELA says, “Customers
value NELA’s commitment to the market of
NELA which is shown in NELA’s emphasis on
having a dedicated Latin America Sales team.”
NELA has a proven track record of catering to
customer’s needs by leveraging the knowledge
and expertise acquired in the field as first-quarter
2014 projects in Latin America included Grabados
Nacionales’ purchase of a new offline multiformat
HVCP plate punch bender in Venezuela.
In Argentina, La Nacion purchased a new VCP
plate punch bender line and Grupo RBS in Brazil
purchased a new VCP punch bending system to
complement the existing NELA lines. NELA forms
the largest register control and plate automation
company in the printing industry.
nnn
ABB successfully
completes
retrofit at
Al-Ahram, Cairo
ABB announces the successful completion
of a retrofit project at the print center of
Al-Ahram, one of the leading newspapers
in Cairo, Egypt. The order for the project was
placed by KBA, the manufacturer of Al-Ahram’s
KBA Commander press with eight printing towers,
two folders and twelve reelstands. The scope of
the project included the latest version of the press
management system, MPS Production, six new
control consoles as well as drives and drives
controls for the twelve reelstands and infeeds.
Ibrahim El-Ghamry, director general, Al-Ahram
Printing Press, recognises the importance of the
retrofit project, “ABB retrofit helps to secure
the availability of our presses in the coming
years”. He added that the modular solutions
from ABB meant that Al-Ahram Printing Press
could modernise the operation of their presses
with minimal impact on their nightly production.
“We have had a long relationship with ABB and
remain impressed with their solutions and also
the competence of their engineers,” according
to Ibrahim El-Ghamry.
nnn
Asharq Al-
Awsat upgrades
iPhone app
to
KnowledgeView’s
NewsPad platform
Leading pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat
is the flagship of Saudi Research and
Publishing Group published from London
and Riyadh with various editions for Europe and
the Arab World. As part of its modernisation
programme, the daily decided to upgrade its
apps to KnowledgeView's NewsPad technology
with unique news social features and LiveBridge
for print-mobile interactivity.
Asahrq Al-Awasat's new iPhone app has some
unique features worked out jointly by product
design teams of KnowledgeView and AAA
for innovative gallery views, debate section,
LiveBridge, PDF views and others.
nnn
Punjab Kesari Group’s 371st truck
of relief
materials to Karalpora
Vijay Kumar Chopra, CMD and editor-in-chief, Punjab Kesari Group flagged off 371st truck of relief
materials sent by Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust, Patiala for distribution among migrants in
Karalpora village located in Budgam District near Srinagar. Present at the philanthropic occasion of
sending the relief materials to the helpless people in the conflict zone included SPS Oberoi, chairman,
Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust (an NRI who paid blood money for the release of Indian and
Pakistani citizens who were awarded death sentence in Dubai) along with Jassa Singh, Satinderpal Kaur,
Havinder Singh Kakku and Lion JB Singh Chaudhary
.
nnn
Danish newspaper house
Sjaellandske
Medier reduces paper waste
with Anturafount CS1
Following the recent adoption of
Agfa Graphics’ Anturafount CS1,
which is a perfect match for the
N94-VCF plates and helps keep blankets
clean while printing, Danish newspaper
producer Sjællandske Medier reduces
its start-up paper waste by another
5-7 percent. Adoption of Anturafount CS1
was the conclusion of an Agfa Graphics f-IQA
report (Fountain ISO Quality Assessment),
based on the analysis of six distinct water
samples from their fountain setup installation:
tap water, de-mineralised water, re-hardened
water, fresh fountain solution, used fountain
solution and the fountain additive. The f-IQA
is one out of a set of six IQA modules which
will become commercially available in due time.
In the end this resulted in an optimised fountain
solution setup, meant to work in combination with
different paper types and variable run lengths of
2,500 to 2,50,000 copies.
Origin of Sjællandske Medier dates back to
1871 and since then it has expanded based on
several mergers between a number of regional
newspapers. Niels Grinsted, factory manager,
Sjællandske Medier and his staff rely on Agfa
Graphics’ service and support team to keep the plate
making and printing workflow
optimised. “Agfa Graphics’
quick response and professional
knowhow regarding different
aspects of the printing workflow
such as experience with plates,
gum and fount contribute to
improve our print results,” he
concluded.
nnn
China Daily
(Asia Weekly)
lands in India
After household and
other commodities
including electronic
goods, now influx of items
from China to India has
its turn for news media.
China Daily (Asia Weekly),
published by China Daily
Asia Pacific Limited
from Hong Kong, has
been imported to India
for distribution by
Mumbai-based Media
Star. Winner of WANIFRA
Asian Media Awards
2013, circulation of this weekly
newspaper is audited by BPA Worldwide
nnn
Tribune group
from Chicago
acquires
What’s-ON
Tribune, one of the world’s leading publishers
of distinguished newspapers like Chicago
Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore
Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando
Sentinel, Hartford Courant, The Morning Call
and Daily Press, recently announced that its
technology and innovation arm Tribune Digital
Venture has acquired What’s-ON, a leading
television search and Electronic Program Guide
(EPG) data providers for India and Middle
East. This move expands Tribune’s TV listings
and video metadata footprint to more than 50
countries in 30 plus languages, reaching more
than 600 million pay TV subscribers. What’s-ON
provides EPG data and TV search products for
16 countries, including India, UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia, Kenya
and Sri Lanka. Today, What’s-ON delivers data
for more than 1,600 TV channels and helps power
more than 50 million set-top boxes through the
region’s top cable and IPTV services.
Peter Liguori, CEO, Tribune Company said, “The
acquisition of What’s-ON fits with our broad
strategy of diversifying revenue and scaling
our metadata business to meet increasing client
demand. India is the world’s third largest TV
market, after US and China, with an estimated
175 million homes and a growing base of digital
cable subscribers, according to ABI Research.
Atul Phadnis, founder & CEO, What’s-ON
remarked that they felt it was important to
find a company that shares their vision for the
business and understands the growth potential
for TV data and services in Asia.
