"The beauty about media companies like ours is that we provide solutions to the fundamental requirement of our audience, which is to know what's going on in the world," says Hywood, who will address a joint session of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Kiev, Ukraine in September. "We take all that information from a massive variety of sources and we boil it down and filter it down into a digestible format people can get every day. That is a very valuable thing to do!"
Fairfax Media, which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age, in Melbourne, among other titles, has announced a major restructuring that will cut almost one-fifth of its staff over three years, shut down two printing plants and reduce broadsheet newspapers to tabloid formats, as the company adjusts to the digital age.
A major challenge of the Internet for news organisations, says Hywood, is to maintain editorial credibility while managing journalistic assets in the most efficient possible way. (Read an extensive interview with him at http://www.wan-ifra.org/hywood_interview).
Hywood will share his views at the 19th World Editors Forum, to be held 2-5 September in Kiev, Ukraine, together with the 64th World Newspaper Congress, the global summit meetings of the world's newspapers and news publishers.
The Editors Forum and World Newspaper Congress, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), annually bring together more than 1000 chief editors, publishers and other senior executives from more than 100 countries. Full details, including the programme and registration information, can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/kiev2012.
WAN-IFRA has also launched a Congress and Forum blog, in the run-up to the events, with background information about speakers, the venue, and some of the hot topics to be examined: http://www.wan-ifra.org/kiev2012_blog.
Sessions for the Editors Forum include:
In addition to Hywood, Editors Forum speakers include Jacek Utko, design director, Bonnier Business Press (BPP), Sweden; Peter Ong, CEO, Checkout Australia Pty Ltd, Australia; Erik Bjerager, president, World Editors Forum and editor-in-chief and managing director, Kristeligt Dagblad, Denmark; Juan Señor, partner, Innovation Media Consulting Group; Raju Narisetti, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, USA; David Boardman, executive editor and senior vice president, The Seattle Times, USA; Shoma Chaudhury, managing editor, Tehelka, India; Riyaad Minty, head of social media, Al Jazeera Media Network, Qatar; Jeffrey Gettleman, Nairobi bureau chief for The New York Times; and more to be announced.
As in past years, the WEF will hold a number of sessions simultaneously with the World Newspaper Congress, including these:
Alongside the World Newspaper Congress and the World Editors Forum, Info Services Expo 2012 will present innovative solutions from the international suppliers' community. The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to meet the leading suppliers to the newspaper industry and discover cutting-edge products, services and technologies.
As always, the events are accompanied by an array of social events, gala dinners and lunches and are considered to be the premier opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world.
WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18 000 publications, 15 000 online sites and over 3000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.
Go to: http://www.wan-ifra.org