"Russia today is ripe for a renaissance of newspapers," said Timothy Balding, CEO of the Paris-based WAN, speaking at the annual Russian Publishing Exhibition and Conference organized by the Russian Guild of Press Publishers, GIPP.

"There are tremendous opportunities for continuing growth. You have a great and vibrant future ahead of you, particularly if your government and other power groups leave you alone to publish and edit your newspapers with the sole imperative of serving your readers and their interests", he said.

Mr Balding and other WAN executives were contributing to the programme with presentations on key trends in the world’s press, the digital future of media companies, outsourcing newspaper operations, and increasing young readership. The event marked a return to Russia for WAN, four months after its World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum brought publishers and editors from around the world to Moscow for the annual summit meeting of the world’s press.

Mr Balding said sales levels of Russian newspapers "are far too low for such a literate, if developing, nation. But there is absolutely no reason that Russia, like Brazil, India or China, or countless other countries in Asia, Latin America or indeed Eastern Europe, should not be recording the impressive print press growth that inevitably follows economic expansion and market development."

Mr Balding predicted that the performance of the Russian press in the coming years was set to outstrip other countries in the region like Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, with significant increases in advertising and sales revenues and circulation. In the meantime, the penetration of newspapers - only 24 buyers per a thousand adults - remained far behind the Czech Republic, at 175 buyers, Hungary ,at 139, or Poland at 84. This, he said, remained an aberration for such a literate market.

Mr Balding also said that Russian publishers should not neglect print as it also develops its digital publishing industry.

"The ’new’ press industry in Russia may be tempted by the sirens of the digital age. But it must not be forgotten that 95 percent, on average, of the revenues of any modern press group, anywhere in the world, remain in print and that the newspaper, on paper, has still a marvelous future, as a leading and integral part of any multiplatform media strategy."

Mr Balding also took the opportunity of the conference to comment on the recent cover story of The Economist titled ’Who Killed the Newspaper?’. He told the Russian publishers:

"Unfortunately for The Economist and its reputation as a serious journal, the facts about the health of the newspaper industry in almost all respects contradict that headline and the poorly researched story behind it. We, and all of you, I’m sure, are well used by now to the mythological and frankly mendacious picture that is being painted of a press industry in agony and fast approaching its end. This picture is simply untrue. Yes, the newspaper business is in transition; yes, there are unprecendented challenges to all of us from new technology, new news distribution platforms, new audience and advertiser needs.

"It nevertheless remains the case that newspapers remain incredibly strong and influential and that we have learned to adapt and change and turn many of the new media evolutions to our advantage".

The conference was an opportunity for WAN to present research and information from its Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, which identifies, analyses and publicises all important breakthroughs and opportunities that can benefit newspapers all over the world. SFN provides WAN members with 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. More on the project can be found at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.

WAN conducts the SFN project with support from five international partners -- PubliGroupe, the Swiss-based international advertising and promotion group; MAN Roland, a leading company for newspaper production systems; UPM-Kymmene, one of the world’s leading printing paper producers; Telenor, the leading Norwegian telecommunications, IT and media group; and Samsung Electronics, a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, and digital convergence technology.

Full details from the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, which drew 1,700 newspaper executives to Moscow in June, can be found here.

WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 73 national newspaper associations, newspapers and newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.