Gavin O’Reilly of Ireland, the Group Chief Operating Officer of Independent News & Media PLC, was elected First Vice President, putting him in line for the presidency in 2006.
Fred Arp, Director of The Telegraaf Group of The Netherlands, was elected Treasurer.
The three were elected by the Annual General Meeting of WAN, held during the World Newspaper Congress in Istanbul, Turkey.
Board Members representing the 72 WAN Member Associations were also elected or re-elected.
"My first two-year mandate came at a particularly challenging time for our industry, both in terms of press freedom and professionally, and I do not expect that to change in the two years before us," said Dr Hong, who is chairman and CEO of South Korea’s leading daily newspaper JoongAng Ilbo.
"The durability of these challenges is the main reason why I have chosen, with the support of the WAN Board, to move forward on a 2004-2006 Action Plan which essentially continues the strategy and focus of my first mandate and largely pursues the objectives and activities of my immediate predecessors as well," he said.
The focus of the new Action Plan includes:
Promoting the development of free and independent press globally, both through aggressive and persistent campaigning against press freedom violations and an intensive programme of special events and training and assistance projects in emerging democracies.
Expanding and developing activities to help newspapers with their business and strategies, advising the industry on solutions for the future, intensifying research in all areas of newspaper operations and future trends, finding new and more effective ways to distribute ideas and solutions to WAN members world-wide, and organising high quality, highly focused events and other programmes.
Increasing activities aimed at helping newspapers acquire young readers, by developing and expanding programmes, including Newspapers in Education initiatives, with emphasis on emerging democracies and markets.
Expanding WAN services and activities geographically, with new focus on multiple-language programmes and more regional electronic networks.
Developing initiatives to prove and promote the effectiveness of print media both as a force for democracy and development and as an effective platform for advertising.
Helping to create strong and effective newspaper associations in developing nations and promoting membership in WAN and the World Editors Forum to highlight their benefits.
The full Action Plan is available here.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 13 news agencies and ten 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.
