FAQs

 

Why has the World Association of Newspapers created an Editors Forum?

Problems that are specific to editors require answers specific to editors.

In 1994, WAN’s research and experience made it obvious that the role of the newsroom editor was growing and changing, not only because of shifts in management techniques, but because of new technologies and competition from new media (cable TV, Internet, etc.).

A few months later, twenty well-known editors decided to create their own group within WAN, the World Editors Forum.

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What happens at the World Editors Forum conference?

Our annual conference (held during the WAN Congress) gathers more than 450 senior editors from around the world. As regular attendants know, when you register for the Forum, you can jump at any moment into a WAN session (more focused on marketing and management issues, gathers more than 1,500 editors, publishers and senior news executives). It is a unique occasion to meet and network with editors and publishers from around the world.

The 2009 World Editors Forum will take place from 22-25 March in Hyderabad, India.

What makes WEF services better than other services for editors?

WEF’ members and board of directors are all editors-in-chief or senior news executives. Who could provide better up-to-date information on what’s happening in print and online media?

We publish an annual "World Press Trends” report, a 700-page database that gives WEF members an in-depth understanding of what’s going on. We publish Trends in Newsrooms, an exclusive annual report analyzing all the latest newsroom trends and innovations. You get access to all the professional reports from “Shaping the Future of Newspapers,” an eponymous WAN service.

At the same time, we use data and analyses from the reports in seminars, conferences, weblogs and produce other special reports to help newsroom decision-makers. Because we belong to the profession we can provide the right information at the right moment.

In a nutshell, what does WEF membership offer me as an editor?

Unique opportunities. WEF offers you a global platform for exchanging newsroom best practices and innovations among editors through formal and informal channels. It gives you the opportunity to communicate with and learn from editors and newspaper specialists from around the world.

By doing this, the WEF allows you to anticipate major editorial shifts. It helps you maintain editorial excellence and readership loyalty despite the increasing competition from TV news, the Internet, weblogs, etc. It gives you the tools to drive the newsroom revolution, instead of being a victim of it.

We bring daily solutions and information about common editorial issues, including:

How to embrace new media while strengthening your print product

How to apply best practices in newsroom management

How to select, train and motivate journalists to foster journalistic excellence

How to create integrated multi-platform newsrooms (print, internet, mobile, etc)

How to redesign and bolster content through design

What to make of ombudsman practices and readership interactivity

How to develop supplements and weekend editions

Achieving a global understanding of an increasingly competitive media environment

What kind of conference speakers will I get to meet?

The World Editors Forum attracts the best from each journalistic field, whether you are interested in improving editorial quality, embracing new media, implementing new designs or learning about press ethics considerations.

For example, at the 2008 World Editors Forum in Goteborg, Sweden, the audience heard exclusively from Jim Kennedy, Vice President and Director of Strategic Planning at the Associated Press, who presented the AP's International Consumer Study.

Paul Cheesbrough, Chief Information Officer at the UK's Telegraph Media Group showed the Forum his company's best practices with mobile journalism.

Editor of Digital News at the New York Times, Jim Roberts, presented the strengths and weaknesses of his paper's integrated newsroom strategy

For the 2008 World Editors Forum, we travel to Hyderabad, India where some more of the media industry’s top movers and shakers will present their latest projects to the audience.



How does the conference relate to modern issues? How is it innovative?

In Cape Town in 2007, some of the innovations included:

- A special Master Class sponsored by Reuters that introduced some of the latest ventures with social and interactive media, including Dave Panos from Pluck, a company which is helping newspapers earn revenue through external online linking, and Rebecca MacKinnon from Global Voices, a Harvard University-based publication which aggregates some of the best blogs from around the globe.
 
- The presentation of the Newsroom Barometer, the first poll of the world’s senior news executives that discovered their strengths, weaknesses and gauged their expectations for the future.

In Moscow in 2006, the World Editors Forum included:

A special Master Class in which Bill Hill and Michael Cooper, Directors of Advanced Reading Technologies, Microsoft, USA presented the "New York Times reader." This was an exclusive presentation of the new generation of electronic reader that combines an e-paper display with wireless networking and intuitive user interface.

_A panel discussed the "Lessons from the Mohammed cartoon clash". Eight panelists discussed if there are limits for press freedom and how media responsibility can work in a globalised world. The panelists were from diverse international backgrounds and contrasted cultural and editorial views of this controversial issue.

At the World Editors Forum held in Seoul in June 2005:

Author of "Grassroots journalism” Dan Gillmor and the creator of Google News, Krishna Bharat, spoke about new forms of journalism and the impact of search engines on our profession – issues that are still on the minds of editors two years later.

As we prepare for Göteburg, 2008, we’re making sure that our sessions are even more informative and innovative.

How do I learn about trends I am not aware of and apply them to my own paper?

At our annual Forum, all of our speakers situate their remarks in a global context and complement their insight through special expertise on regional developments. The innovations and analysis they propose are specific but can be applied to your newspaper.

In our latest Editors Forum in Goteborg, Sweden, David Dunkley Gyimah, Senior Lecturer in Digital Journalism at the UK's University of Westminster, presented the ways in which he trains newspaper journalists for the multimedia world.

At 2007's Forum in Cape Town, Andrea Seibel, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Germany’s Die Welt and Editor-in-Chief of Holland’s NRC Handelsblad and NRC Next introduced the concept of the multi-newspaper newsroom.

In Moscow in 2006, the results of the newspaper industry’s first experiment with e-paper subscriptions conducted by the Belgian daily De Tijd were presented.


Do you organize only one conference a year?

Certainly not. Every fall, WEF participates in the organization of the Digtial Publishing Conference and Expo as well as the Readership Conference. In 2007, the conferences were held back-to-back in Amsterdam, from October 17-19. In 2008, the coferences will return to Amsterdam. The Digital Publishing Conference will study examples of "The Digital Revenue Gold Mine" and the Readership Conference will look at best practices in attracting and maintaining new readers. WEF members have the possibility to get a special rate. WEF also partners with other WAN events and conferences across the globe.

Why not only go to your annual conference and skip the membership fee?

With full membership, the World Editors Forum conference costs only €100 more than the annual conference, and provides you with a range of exclusive reports, news updates and additional services.

WEF membership costs €750 and members pay only €1,300 for the four-day annual conference. Total cost: €2,050. While non-members are welcome to come to the conference, the cost for them is €1,950.
Thus for only €100 more, you get all our other services, including the annual “World Press Trends” and "Trends in Newsrooms" reports, the “Shaping the Future of the Newspaper” reports and access to our other conferences and sponsored events.

What is the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper (SFN) project?

“Shaping the Future of the Newspaper” is a major research initiative dedicated to publishers, managers, editors and other senior news executives. It a series of in-depth strategy reports and case studies that analyze and publicize important breakthroughs that could benefit the future of newspapers worldwide.

For more information, click here. 

 

I deal with photojournalism, design and infographics - are there any events geared toward my interests?

Absolutely. Full sessions are regularly dedicated to these issues.

In Cape Town in 2007, participants at the annual Forum heard from Mario Garcia, CEO and founder of Garcia Media and Al Trivino, Art Director ofThe Times of London talk about design lessons between the front page of the newspaper and the homepage of its website.

In 2005 in Seoul, Korea, Robb Montgomery from the Chicago Sun-Times , Jeff Goertzen of the St Petersburg Times , Alberto Cairo of El Mundo and Peter Espina  of the China Daily debated during two hours about how to inform and surprise readers with graphs and flash animation.

I’m the editor of a local newspaper with a limited circulation. Why should I join the World Editors Forum?

Because many major innovations start at small newspapers. Take the example of Finland and Norway: it is not the high-circulation national newspapers that developed news-via-mobile phone services. It’s the local newspapers.

In the United States, it’s the small, local dailies such as the Bakersfield Californian that began experimenting with citizen journalism and social networking, not larger regional papers.

Sometimes the groundbreakers are where you least expect them.

At the annual conference, you always learn from local newspaper editors who are dealing with situations similar to yours, and your insight is just as valuable to them.

I’m a foreign editor. Is your organization strictly dedicated to editors-in-chief or executive editors?

You have every reason to join. WEF membership begins to be helpful when you have to manage 20 journalists or more. Just so you know, we have front-page editors and photo editors as members. Welcome to the club!

I don’t run a daily newspaper. Can I join?

Of course. Whether you are the editor of a weekly magazine, an online news editor or run a monthly niche publication, or simply interested in journalism and newspapers, you are concerned with the same issues.

In 2006, WEF opened itself up to journalism schools as well and now has several academic members.

Newsroom management, ethics, editorial excellence, the creation of multi-platform departments, business models and press innovations matter to everybody in the profession. By all means join.

I’m an editor in a developing country. A €750 fee is too high for me. Can you help me out?

Talk to us. We’re always open to new members and do our best to accommodate them.


How do I explain to my publisher that it’s worth €750 to join WEF?

First, both from a short and long term perspective, a single good idea, project, innovation or networking experience is worth far more than €750 to a newspaper. And you won’t be getting just one good idea, you’ll be getting hundreds, year-in and year-out, from the world’s newspaper industry experts.

Secondly, WEF membership is a real time saver; you are immediately aware of innovations and experiences that you might never find out about by reading the mainstream press. Lastly, cross-fertilization is the most powerful way to drive major shifts.

Are there any hidden costs?

No.

How do I join? Where do I sign? Is on-line payment OK?

Please, click here.


What is Trends in Newsrooms?

Trends in Newsrooms is an annual report brought to you by the World Editors Forum designed to track the year’s most important trends in newsrooms around the world. It provides practical case studies, an overview of important news and innovations, as well as theoretical analysis about what editors can do to improve their newspaper’s editorial quality, newsroom management, design, business model and more. Trends in Newsrooms is designed to help editors and media professionals, and is produced with the contributions of well-known editors and media professionals.

For more information about Trends in Newsrooms, please click here.

What is the Newsroom Barometer?

The Newsroom Barometer is a newly established survey of editors around the world, organized by the World Editors Forum, Reuters and Zogby International. The Newsroom Barometer measures and comments on editors’ views of relevant editorial issues, such as the integration of online, interaction with readers, threats to editorial independence, and more.  Every year, there will be a new edition of the Newsroom Barometer, using many of the same questions, to compare the evolution of editors’ responses. This year’s Newsroom Barometer includes the contribution of, among others, Jeff Jarvis.

For more information about the Newsroom Barometer, please click here.


What is the Editors Weblog?

The Editors Weblog is a World Editors Forum initiative designed to facilitate the diffusion of information relevant to newspapers and their editors. The Weblog is updated five days a week with relevant news about the press and editorial quality. Content includes news (six to ten postings a day) as well as analysis, which provides exclusive insight into the initiatives and strategies of some of the world’s most innovative newspapers. Over 1,500 editors and media professionals read the Editors Weblog every day.

For more information about the Editors Weblog, please click here.