Dear Colleague,

Why not join us in Istanbul for the World Editors Forum conference?

From 30 May to 2 June, as part of the Congress organised by the World Association of Newspapers, the 2004 WEF conference will offer you:

1) A new focus on the practical issues for working editors. This year, the Forum will concentrate on professional issues, such as the shift from broadsheet to tabloid format, the Front Page revolution, together with new visual strategies.

2) An exceptional range of world-class speakers, featuring editors and executives discussing issues of key importance to editorial practices today, such as:
  Defending digital journalism, including mobile business: Anssi Vanjoki (Nokia) and Oh Yeon-Ho (OhMyNews, Korea)...
  Tabloid versus Broadsheet: Simon Kelner (The Independent, UK), Niels Lunde (Berlingske Tidende, Denmark), Raymundo Riva-Palacios (El Independiente, Mexico)...
  Improving circulation through front-page design: the designer Roger Black (USA) and Terry Quinn (Fairfax Group, Australia)
  plus many more... In addition, you can send questions to the Istanbul speakers in advance so as to be sure to get your issue on the agenda.

3) A unique opportunity to meet and network with 1,200 newspaper publishers and executives from around the world, including 300 newsroom editors. I want you to leave Istanbul with at least 3-4 compelling ideas to develop, research or integrate into your own work.

Hope to see you in Istanbul.

Bertrand Pecquerie,
World Editors Forum Director.

For information, please contact me at bpecquerie@wan.asso.fr or on the Editors Weblog.

The Newsroom revolution: new technologies, new markets, new competitors.

The digital revolution continues to change the way newspapers collect, produce and distribute information, creating a wide range of new challenges and opportunities for today’s editors and their journalists.

At the same time, a combination of financial constraints, falling circulations, permanent technological change and the need to redefine relations with readers, makes it difficult to see with real clarity what aspects of this revolution need to be exploited to the full and which can be set aside.

Ten years after the beginning of the digital breakthrough and the changes it has brought to the news business (real time journalism, online news and information, multi-platform distribution and one-to-one relations with readers), it’s time for editors to appraise what developments are valuable and worthy of investment - and what is risky and potentially dangerous for the profession.

Some of the professional issues which have emerged and must be discussed include: newspaper formats - does the current tabloid boom spell the advancing death of the broadsheet? do front pages need again to undergo change to capture the immediate attention of the reader? what can photojournalism and new visual strategies contribute to the new strategies to maintain and increase circulation?

Cultural, ethical and political questions are also a major part of the professional lives of editors. And it’s impossible in 2004 not to address at least two phenomena: the credibility of the press, which continues to lose ground in many countries; the emerging importance, on the international scene, of the Arab media. The 11th Conference will introduce a number of new features, including a special social event uniquely for editors and the opportunity to have discussions with the Islamist press in Turkey.

Who is the Forum for?

The World Editors Forum is the only annual global event focusing on editorial issues. It is aimed at chief and deputy editors and other senior news executives as well as experts, academics and association executives.