I stand here humbly in Seok Hyun Hong‘s place, as acting-President of W.A.N. As many of you already know, Seok Hyun had to step down from his Presidency prematurely to become the Korean ambassador to the United States.
Yet, Seok Hyun had still hoped to be here to realize the ambition of hosting this event in his own country, but alas, he is unfortunately detained in Washington DC. by most important affairs of State.
So my first order of business this morning, is to seize this occasion today and pay special tribute to Seok Hyun - in front of his Korean colleagues in particular - for an exceptional 2 years as the leader of this organization, during which he did so much for W.A.N. and did so much to raise the profile of both Korea and Asia within the global press community.
We meet today in the exciting and vibrant splendour of Seoul, only a short distance away from the last remaining Cold War frontier, the DMZ. It is a border that not only divides a great nation and a proud people, but starkly symbolises 2 very different concepts of humanity. Put bluntly, it is a frontier that stands between freedom here, and bondage in the North.
Your South Korea of today is based on the respect for human rights, for democracy and for economic freedoms. The world has watched with great admiration and some obvious envy, the truly extraordinary progress and development that your Republic has enjoyed over the past 2 decades thanks largely to these freedoms.
North Korea, on the other hand, remains a living laboratory, of what happens when society is totally deprived of the freedom of information; of what happens when it is starved of the right to free expression or the right to join in free debate. In the North, there are no media worth the name, only propaganda organs; North Koreans have neither the right nor the means to access the internet; listening to foreign broadcasts is a “crime against the State”, punishable by death.
As we have seen all too frequently across modern history, the results of this shackling of a people - are poverty, stagnation, misery and ruin. That sadly is the North Korea of today.
As many in this room will attest, the road towards - and evolution of - freedom of expression and the free-flow of information was a long and arduous one here in South Korea. Comparatively-speaking, the closing stages of that long journey here in South Korea has only really come to bear in recent times - and yet it is still not flawless. We are aware that significant tensions exist between major newspapers and the State, with claims made regularly that there are plans to cut down their power by limiting their freedom.
In particular, recent legislative moves in the area of the media do strike us as being somewhat incompatible with internationally-recognized standards governing the freedom to publish. Bills passed by the National Assembly which aim, among other things, to set limits on the market share of newspapers, are not - in our view - a sensible way of dealing with what some may consider is excessive influence. Restricting a readers’ right to subscribe to the newspapers of their choice is unusual, to say the least, and is not something that is prevalent anywhere else in the democratic world.
There are problems, as the Korean Government is aware, with other proposed law revisions - that appear to us to constitute an unwarranted interference in the freedom and autonomy of publishers and their editors -- and the World Association of Newspapers remains willing - as we have always been - to discuss these issues with your representatives at any time.
To our Korean colleagues, I trust that you will take these candid remarks constructively, as indeed they are intended. As an organization which exists in the first instance to defend and promote freedom of the press world-wide, we frankly never shy away from commentating on restrictions to press freedom. As we see it, at W.A.N. it’s our responsibility - and believe me, there are all too many Head of States that need to be reminded of it!
Despite what you heard this morning, happily, it is not the case with the your president - very far from it. He had a long, tough and distinguished career as a defender of human rights and have paid for your commitment to these rights.
Through his career - first as a lawyer and then as a politician - has has defended the rights of students, led human rights causes, and have been a leading activist in the pro-democracy movement, particularly in the 1980s. And these aren’t just platitudes - he went to jail for his strongly-held beliefs.
As such, his long and distinguished fight for human rights persuades me that our respective positions on the right to freedom of the press cannot differ very much, and I am sure that your wise future actions in this field will confirm that.
At these events every year, it is the WAN President’s sombre duty to remind the global press community of the painful struggle which our colleagues - in too many corners of the world - are engaged in on a daily basis to protect press freedom, often at huge personal cost.
So, I would like to take a few minutes of your time to illustrate - in this short video clip - the depth and breadth of this struggle around the world over the past year.
As you can see, this past year has been a particularly murderous one for our profession, and I am sure you will all join me in paying solemn tribute to all those media workers who have lost their lives to bring news and information to our public; to those who have been jailed and are still in prison; and to those who persist in trying to do their jobs under constant persecution and harassment.
If I may, I would like to observe a few moments of silence for those who have suffered - and continue to suffer - the ultimate form of censorship.
As appalling as this vista is - our job at W.A.N. goes on... While we are first and foremost the leading advocate on press freedom and independence - we have another important industry role - and I would like to make some brief general comments on the economics and durability of our industry, as press freedom is inherently intertwined with an economically free and prosperous industry.
At this Congress and Forum, we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the ‘birth’ of the first newspaper in print - and as such - I view the future of our industry with a mixture of sturdiness and optimism that I hope will be infectious to you all.
This afternoon, our Director General, Timothy Balding, will take you through World Press Trends: it will confirm a global newspaper industry that has its share of challenges, but also critically confirms an industry that is exhibiting a renaissance-like re-emergence, that is leading in innovation; that is positively reengineering itself; that is producing products that are even more relevant to readers and advertisers alike; and that is winning the battle for the mass-market, as fragmentation of audiences and media accelerates, particularly in broadcasting. Yet to me, it is somewhat ironic that in a year in which the newspaper is 400 years old - or perhaps more fittingly, 400 years young... that still so many media commentators are suggesting that the game is up for newspapers. In that, I’m minded of a quote by Vince Lombardi, famous head coach of the US football team, who said, “We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time”.... After 400 years of newspapers rightly dominating the media landscape - and successfully weathering the onslaught of radio, TV and latterly the new digital age - it’s hard to see the full-time whistle blowing quite yet.
And yet in the slipstream of Google’s recent success or AOL’s or Apple iPod’s - read any media industry report today - and you’d be excused for believing otherwise. We’re told... Ours is an industry in terminal decline. First Radio, then colour magazines, then TV, and now the final nail in the coffin, the internet and digital media. Heard it all before? You’ll doubtless hear it again. Add to that, the new buzz phrases like Convergence, Blogs, Revolution, Paradigm shifts...
Too often these days, these business commentators seem to confuse imagination with knowledge, to confuse aspiration with inspiration, to confuse strategy with hard grind... and as businessmen and women, each of us in this room need to ensure that we can always decipher the commercial verities from the latest conventional wisdom.
And as with regard to the latest conventional wisdom -- as they say, Deflection is the best form of Deception. Believe me - this game is not over: we’re not even into extra time. News-papers represent an integral part of over a billion people’s life every day - showcasing and celebrating the serendipity of life.
All of us are fortunate to be able to produce local products with identifiable brand strengths; Brands that command great consumer loyalty; Brands that counter the odious reality that is fragmentation; Brands that satisfy that local desire for news, sport, entertainment, politics and commentary.
At W.A.N. we use the word freedom quite a lot. Too often, we -like everybody else - think of freedom as an end in itself... and yet, as ever, freedom is only useful in proportion to the use you make of it. Our challenge is not to squander that.
Yet still, as a self-professed critic of our own industry - too many newspaper executives seem to play off the back foot; to be reactive and to adopt a herd-like mentality, to pander to the latest report, to the latest craze, and to make big right-angle course re-directions in that desperate clamour to put so-called ‘strategy’ around their own unique commercial challenges. Be it a wanton craze for free newspapers - the discreet economics of which are still profoundly unproven - or free online news services (justified asnobody else is charging) - or systemic price discounting...
Few of these are economically additive - rather they are deflationary at best - and play more to our own inherent insecurities rather than business. To my mind, embracing any such reasoning is a form of appeasement -- and for those who lack brand confidence, who lack resolve, appeasement may certainly look like a refined response.
Yet, newspapers today are not like newspapers of yesteryear... Publishers today have become acutely commercial, responsive and inventive. Simply put, we’ve upped our game. We’ve invested millions and millions in new state-of-the-art colour production facilities; we’ve become leaders in merchandising; we’ve invested millions behind our brands; we’ve aggressively targeted consumers - both young and old; we present a medium that is relatively fragmentation-proof; and the internet - supposedly the nemesis of our industry - has in fact become a critical and vibrant part of our product and brand mix.
And it is that which will form the basis of our success - recognising the unrivalled strength of our medium and its place and relevance in society. Our job as publishers is not to be prisoners of history nor at the same time to be wanton revisionists. If we can do all that - and keep a proper sense of perspective - and remember that the business logic that governed the business of yesteryear is still as relevant today - then, they’ll have to wait some time to read our industry’s obituary. Thus, it is my hope that the next 3 days will uncover and reaffirm the real verities of, and prospects for our newspaper industry. Over these next few days, I hope that we shall identify, debate and construct commercial models that underpin and guarantee the vitality of our brands and the central role that they can continue to play in an ever-increasing information-hungry society.
With undeniable brand strength and local relevance, a mixture of good humour, clear thinking, sensible pricing, and great determination -- these represent all the ingredients for genuine and continuing success. I implore these to you. In closing, let me on behalf of my W.A.N. colleagues and all the delegates here, thank President Roh for officially welcoming us to his beautiful and exciting country. Finally, I want to once again thank our Korean hosts, and particularly Dae-Whan Chang, for organising what I know will be a most productive, instructive and enjoyable week.
Thank you. |
