Quotes
from the Conference
Summaries
of Presentations
Some
quotes from the Ifra/WAN electronic publishing conference,
"Beyond the Printed Word."
For
more information -- including the soon-to-be-published
Conference Report -- contact Joanna Jolly, WAN, 25 rue
d'Astorg, 75008 Paris France, Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00,
Fax +33 1 47 42 49 48. E-mail: joanna@wan.asso.fr
WAN
members will receive the report – and all WAN publications
– for free. Membership information can be found at
www.wan-press.org/membership/index.html
Mattias
Nyman, Chief Technology Officer, Afftonbladet, Sweden,
on why "templates" used to automatically create internet
page layouts won't work with the newspaper:
"Newspaper
journalists and designers want to have total control of
the makeup of the page. They don't want to be driven by
boring software. You cannot force something very structured
on them. It would not get a good result."
Shunji
Itai, Deputy Manager of the Multimedia Editing Department,
Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan:
"The
internet and mobility are the twin drivers that are enabling
us to break through many limits, such as the limits of
time and space."
Christoph
Dernbach, Editor-in-Chief, Deutsche Presse Argentur, Germany:
"Entertaining
and serious information does not have to be a contradiction
in terms. You can present serious information and it doesn't
have to be boring."
"Content
itself is available for free and in vast quantities. But
the question is, what kind of content do you get for nothing?
Gossip, for free. Stories you're not sure of, for free.
Real-time, quality, precision information — you do
not get this for nothing."
Derek
Fattal, Vice President, New Media, The Jerusalem Post,
Israel:
"Make
no mistake, in the online world the consumer is king,
and the folks that populate our sites are not called 'visitors'
for nothing. If our brands do not deliver the goods in
this new hyper-competitive media universe, other brands
will. Loyalty and brand name count a lot less in an environment
where your competitors are just a mouse click away, and
attention span is measured through a bunch of pixels.
The line between a site visitor and a site deserter is
a thin one."
"Our
readers told us they did not expect us to offer community
services such as chat rooms, or what I call the gimmicky
side of the internet which we thought we had to offer.
Our readers told us they were coming to our site for news,
and they wanted it quickly."
Rolf
Lie, Editor, Aftenposten, Norway:
"Too
many journalists see the new channels as more of a threat
than an opportunity. In the past, the biggest challenge
was technology. Now it is people."
Ari
Heinonen, Research Director, University of Tampere, Journalism
Research and Development Centre, Finland, on the need
for human judgement in the automated editing process:
"Admitting
that in a technically advanced experiment that there is
a need for editors is not, in my view, a step backwards.
I see it as a sign of a new, healthier approach to developing
practices for tomorrow's news and communications technologies.
Far too often we hear of technological development where
the technical parts and the journalistic needs do not
mesh. This leads to bad planning and waste of money and
the poor practical adoption of new technology."
Frank
Volmer of the free Dutch newspaper SPITS, on the success
of quality "commuter newspapers" offered at train and
bus stations during rush hours:
"Advertisers
will pay enough money to make a free sheet succeed because
you have the readers attention in a place where you have
no competition."
Tony
Lee, General Manager, Wall Street Journal Interactive,
USA:
"If
someone is interested in carrying your brand (in an online
alliance), you will have the upper hand Ð never forget
that."
"When
you share your content with someone else, they see the
value of what you provide, and they come back for more."
"To us, the most important aspect is to completely cater
to the needs of the user."
Howard
Finberg, former Vice President, CNI Ventures, Central
Newspapers Inc., USA:
"The assumption is that newspapers won't be able to charge
for classifieds. The reality is, our customers want to
sell goods and services and they need to reach the traffic
we have. We can charge a fee."
Randy
Bennett, Vice President, Electronic Media and Industry
Development, Newspaper Association of America:
"Mapping
a course for the unfolding future requires an objective
understanding of where you are now, where you want to
be, and how to monitor your progress. Of course, there
is uncertainty ahead as advertisers' and consumers' needs
change and industries restructure. However, building frameworks,
identifying and monitoring the drivers of change, and
articulating major marketplace trends are important tools
to use when planning for the future."
