Mr O’Reilly, 38, had been serving as Acting President since his predecessor, Seok Hyun Hong of Korea, stepped down earlier this year to become Korean Ambassador to the United States.

Mr O’Reilly, who is Irish, was elected President Wednesday by the WAN Annual General Meeting, held during the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Seoul, Korea. The events drew more than 1,300 publishers, editors and other senior newspaper executives from 80 countries.

"Those who know me well are aware that I have little patience for the pessimists and the doom-mongers," said Mr O’Reilly in his acceptance speech. "I’m genuinely and sincerely optimistic about the future of newspapers and, frankly, I want to profit from my Presidency of WAN to infect as many people as possible with a similar attitude about our industry."

As Chief Operating Officer of Independent News & Media, Mr O’Reilly oversees a leading international newspaper group with 175 titles in Ireland, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India.

New Board Members from 13 countries were also elected Wednesday: Ivo Prokopiev, Publisher of Capital Weekly, Bulgaria; André Provencher, President and Publisher of Le Soleil, Canada; Jorge Andres Saleh, Vice President of Consorcio Periodistico, Chile; Taisto Riski, Managing Director, Kaleva Kustannus Oy, Finland; François Dufour, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Play Bac Presse, France; Narasimhan Murali, Joint Managing Director, The Hindu, India; Dae-Whan Chang, Chairman and Publisher, Maeil Business Newspaper, Korea; Johan Elzeser, Association of Printed Media & News Agencies, Macedonia; Belco Tamboura, Publisher of ASSEP, Mali; Joao Palmeiro, President of the Portuguese Press Association, Portugal; Momcilo Djorgovic, Director and Editor-in-Chief, Nedeljni Telegraf, Serbia & Montenegro; José Maria Bergareche Busquet, Director General, Vocento, Spain; and Hanzade Dogan, CEO of Dogan Gazetecilik, Turkey.

Mr O’Reilly called on his colleagues world-wide to help WAN build on the inherent strengths of newspapers.

"I believe we need to think and talk ambitiously and positively about what we do and how we do it, and to promote with conviction the great inherent attitudes of our medium. This is absolutely key to ensure our success," he said.

"I am not a one-man band, however, and I need the help of all of you if our great organization is to maximize its tremendous potential as a strong and resourceful representative organization for our industry on the world stage. There is a place for all women and men of goodwill who believe they have something to contribute and I look forward to hearing from many of you who want to join our efforts."

Mr O’Reilly said the Action Plan approved for the organisation a year ago would continue. The objectives include: promoting a free and independent press throughout the world; expanding and developing activities to help newspapers with their business and strategies; promoting young reader and literacy programs; expanding activities in developing countries and emerging markets; enhancing the value and role of print media; increasing WAN membership; developing co-operation with other organisations; and expanding WAN funding and revenue sources.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual 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.