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Yahoo!, Google and
the News Agencies: Threats or Partners to Newspapers?
The director of Google
News and the general manager of Yahoo! News will participate in
a debate at the upcoming World Editors Forum on the impact of
new competition from news aggregators and news agencies on traditional
newsrooms.
Nathan Stoll of Google
and Neil Budde of Yahoo! will be joined by Pierre Louette, CEO
of Agence France-Presse, and Dean Wright, Senior Vice President
and Managing Editor for Consumer Services at Reuters, in a session
entitled, "Web Portals and News Agencies: New Threats to
Newspapers?"
The session at the
World Editors Forum, to be held from 4 to 7 June in Moscow, Russia,
will examine whether newspapers can adjust their business models
to compete in the on-line world, or whether news aggregators and
news agencies are destined to dominate internet news.
The World Editors Forum,
along with the World Newspaper Congress and Info Services Expo
2006, are the global meetings of the world's press. Registrations
are on a record pace; at least 1,500 newspaper publishers, chief
editors, managing directors and other senior newspaper executives
are expected to attend the June events.
Full conference details,
including programme and registration details and a list of participants,
can be found at http://www.moscow2006.com .
Search engine companies
and their news aggregation services are becoming direct competitors
for newspapers. At the same time, news agencies can reach the
public through their websites, bypassing the newspaper middleman
and redefining the relationship between the agencies and newspapers.
While many in the newspaper
industry perceive Google as a threat to brand recognition, online
audiences and advertising revenues, Mr Stoll says the opposite
is true -- that Google News provides advantages for news websites,
journalists and readers.
Mr Budde of Yahoo!
also says his company is not a threat to newspapers -- that, in
fact, journalistic partnerships are part of the global strategy
of Yahoo! News. He says there is no opposition between traditional
and new media, but a symbiotic relationship.
The Reuters news agency
recently launched a pilot programme which enabled blogs, news
organisations and other online publishers to offer Reuters news
videos on their websites. Mr Wright says the agency's new strategy
aims to broaden Reuter's audience, boost its brand and take advantage
of the growing online advertising market.
And, at AFP, a major
concern is what happens to a news agency when its clients are
threatened by media concentration and less profitability. Mr Louette
argues that the time has come to redefine and enrich the relationship
between press agencies and newspapers.
Other Forum sessions
include:
- "Should newspapers
welcome citizen journalists?", featuring Jimmy Wales, Director
and Founder of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, Steve Herrmann,
Editor-in-Chief of BBC News Interactive, and Steve Yelvington,
Vice President of Content and Strategy for Morris Digital Works
in the United States.
- "Convergence
II: multimedia is now ready for print", featuring Jim Brady,
Executive Editor of washingtonpost.com, Chrystia Freeland, US
Edition Editor of the Financial Times, Sanjay Trehan, Head of
Broadband and Content for Indiatimes, the electronic operations
of The Times of India, and other speakers to be announced.
- "Weekend winners:
Saturday/Sunday editions and supplements", featuring George
Brock, Saturday Editor of The London Times, Hans Engell, Editor-in-Chief
of Denmark's Ekstra Blagdet, and other speakers to be announced.
- "Lessons learned
from the Mohammed cartoon clash", with Ibrahim Essa, Editor
of Al-Dustour, Egypt, Eric Le Boucher, Editor of France's Le Monde,
Imtiaz Alam, General Secretary of the South Asian Free Media Association,
Hakeem Bello, Executive Editor of The National Interest in Nigeria,
Ed Greenspoon, Editor of The Globe and Mail, Canada, and Andrei
Richter, Director of the Moscow Media Law and Policy Institute.
The session will be chaired by Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director
General for Communication and Information, UNESCO.
- and many others,
including special breakfasts for editors with leading political
and newspaper figures, joint sessions with the World Newspaper
Congress, an array of social events, and much more. Full details
at http://www.moscow2006.com
The Paris-based WEF
is the organisation of the World Association of Newspapers that
represents senior news executives. WAN, the global organisation
for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its
membership includes 73 national newspaper associations, newspapers
and newspaper executives in 102 countries, nine news agencies
and nine regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries
to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy
St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33
1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr
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