World Association of News Publishers


World News Media Congress to Cover the Big Five Topics

World News Media Congress to Cover the Big Five Topics

Paris, Frankfurt – 2017-05-08

More than 800 publishers, chief editors, managing directors, CEOs and other senior news publishing executives from over 80 countries are expected to come together for this year's World News Media Congress and World Editors Forum Organized by WAN-IFRA from 7 to 9 June 2017 in Durban, South Africa.

Highlights in Durban will include sessions on strategy, revenue, and editorial development, research and innovation, as well as issues related to small and mid-sized publishers. Top media executives and experts in media have been invited to present their views and experiences around these Big Five topics:

  • CEO’s Roadmap for Renewal
  • The Next Big Projects
  • New Revenue Pillars
  • Trust and Quality: Now!
  • Future Tools, Future Concepts

The lineup of top industry experts includes:

Espen Egil Hansen, Editor in Chief at Aftenposten, Norway, who made worldwide headlines when he openly challenged Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on the issue of censorship, when Facebook had taken the controversial decision to remove Nick Ut’s iconic photograph, “The Terror of War”, which depicts a naked and burning Kim Phuc fleeing her firebombed village.

Lisa MacLeod, Head of Digital at Times Media Group in South Africa, who was previously GM of Digital for Media24.com. A former head of operations for ft.com and Managing Editor of the Financial Times, she now oversees the operational aspects of moving Times Media to a true digital first environment.

Stephane Pere, Chief Data Officer for The Economist businesses. His mission is to elevate and protect data as a corporate asset, leverage data as revenue driver for the circulation and media businesses as well as explore the potential unlocked by Big Data.

Jean-Luc Breysse, Deputy CEO Group Le Figaro – CCM Benchmark will  explain the group’s goals and road map as the oldest national daily in France has kept its head during the digital revolution (digital represents 35% of revenue and 60% of profit) and challenged giants Google and Facebook  in terms of unique visitors.

Other speakers joining the programme of the upcoming World News Media Congress include:

Plus much more! The full list of speakers and panelists can be found here.

Workshops and other resources

The World News Media Congress also offers an array of workshops and other resources.

More than 200 women from all spectrums of the media industry will take part to the Women in News Summit profiling and celebrating stories from women media and business leaders who are breaking through glass ceilings, challenging traditional business models or innovating in news. As part of the Summit, a panel session hosted by Google will address the Gender Representation and Gender Bias in News Reporting in the Age of Social Media. 

The Small and Midsized Business annual meeting will guide participants through pragmatic approaches to tap into data intelligence full potential and return on investment . The Media, innovation and sports workshop sponsored by the Global Alliance for Media Innovation will look at Sports news as a major driver for media innovation.

The  annual Press Freedom roundtable invites media from across the continent to determine whether African independent media  to act as a watchdog over public institutions, and if not, what needs to be done to get us there.​

The full programme of conferences and workshops can be found here

 World News Media Congress Durban: World News Media Congress DurbanWorld News Media Congress Durban: World News Media Congress Durban

Contact information