IFRA

Newsplex, in partnership with the German Press Agency dpa, launched an initiative called goLocal during IFRA Expo 2009 that aims to help support local and regional publishers to make the most of their unique market position.

“We want to make it clear to publishers how to utilise the benefits of regional, local and hyperlocal publishing and business services,” says Dietmar Schantin, Newsplex director and executive director of Publishing, Editorial and General Management at WAN-IFRA. “It is important for publishers to cater to the regional and local audience with compelling regional and local content. This is where a unique advantage can be generated and global, mostly digital, media players can be beaten. At the same time, when we talk about business services, we are not just talking about advertising, we are talking about being a media consultant with comprehensive, agency-like services for regional and local businesses.”

Media-led news agencies, such as the American AP, Austrian APA or German dpa, are seeking new possibilities of supporting shareholders and customers by providing new technical services in the necessary local re-orientation. This includes enriching local contents with metadata that is becoming increasingly important for achieving success on the web, joint content marketing or pursuing copyright infringements. “Besides their core news business, the agencies will develop completely new services in order to support publishing houses effectively – just as we have done for 50 publishing houses with our MINDS platform,” says Meinolf Ellers, CEO of dpa-infocom.

For details about goLocal, contact Dietmar Schantin at: dietmar.schantin@wan-ifra.org

In today’s newspaper publishing environment, leaders face an increasingly complex world in which continual and rapid change is the norm. In a period of uncertainty, asking questions and framing scenarios gives confidence to leaders in this industry to go forward.

Speakers for the 28-29 September Managing the Crisis conference in London included:

• Anna Kirah, Design Anthropologist, Psychologist and Vice President CPH DESIGN 1 2 3, Norway
• Jacques Rosselin, Founder, Vendredi, The french printed blog, France
• Maeve Donovan, Managing Director, The Irish Times, Ireland
• Moritz Wuttke, Founder, NextMediaInitiatives, Switzerland - Shanghai
• Rainer Esser, Managing Director, Die Zeit, Germany
• Richard Wellins, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Business Development, Development Dimensions International, USA
• Terry Maguire, Principal, International Media Development & Counsel, Founding Advisor of the Monaco Media Forum, USA
• Theo Blanco, Senior Sales and Marketing Director, Upsala Nya Tidning, Sweden
• Vasily Gatov, Strategy Director at MEDIA3, Vice President of the Russian Publishers Guild, IFRA Board Member, Russia

•  See the Managing the Crisis blog Follow some of the many issues we addressed at this conference with an RSS feed or by e-mail.

• Our interview with Richard Wellins
• Our interview with Anna Kirah