Monday, June 05, 2006
Meeting in Moscow, world editors focus on how to sustain "free" newsflow
Bertrand Pecquarie (bpecquerie@wan.asso.fr) writes that some 350 newspaper editors from 70 nations are gathering this week in Moscow and a key theme is analyzing how to serve a generation that is hungry for news -- but doesn't want to pay for it.
Pecquarie is executive director of the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers, and its 13th World Editors Forum was set to begin Monday morning, New York time, and run through Wednesday, with seven sessions. The full program is viewable online at:
http://www.moscow2006.com/eng/conferences_programmes/forum/
There's also a a video-blog coproduced by Robb Montgomery of
VisualEditors.com: http://www.visualeditors.com/moscow/ .
Here are the main topics and speakers of the World Editors Forum:
- Outlook 2010: how newspapers can manage the ³free generation²Eli Noam, Professor of Economics and Finance, Columbia University, USAToday¹s newspaper will become a news-integrator, but the problem fortraditional news organisations is that this type of virtual integratorfunction can also be done by others says Eli. He also adds that it is notclear what the competitive advantage of established newspapers is in such avirtual model : « They are too big for the specialist shop model, and tooexpensive or low-tech for the integrator model. »
- Wikipedia and newspapers: two forms of collective intelligenceJimmy
Wales, Director and Founder, Wikipedia, USAWikipedia, the free online encyclopedia is one of the most successfulwebsites on the internet. Together with its news spinoff, Wikinews,Wikimedians have created alternatives to traditional media. Can wikis bepart of participatory journalism a phenomenon now recognised by more and more newspapers?
- Breaking out : How print publications can embrace multimedia Jim Brady, Executive Editor, washingtonpost.com, USA. Two distinct online newspaper business strategies are emerging; The New York Times strategy of a selective online paid-wall and the Washington Post's focus on free access, large audiences and advertising-based revenues explained by Jim. - How to play more than video games with readers Esten O. Saether, New Media Editor, Dagbladet, Norway The Norwegian newspaper offers its online edition in a format for Playstation Portable (PSP). According to Esten, the PSP version is an interesting new way to attract young readers among other initiatives.
- Google News and the free flow of information Nathan Stoll, Google News Product Manager, Google Inc., USA Google News and the free flow of information -- Google News is sometimes perceived as a threat to brand recognition, online audiences and advertisingrevenues by the newspaper industry. Nathan thinks exactly the contrary and wants to show the advantages of Google News for news websites, journalists, and readers. This discussion will be open!
There are also sessions on e-paper technical developments and on the Danish newspaper publication of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons.
