PARIS, 9 April 2004 — The World Editors Forum is bringing three media titans together to debate the future direction of news. Juan-Luis Cebrian, CEO of PRISA Group and Spain’s leading daily, El Pais; Anssi Vanjoki, vice president of Nokia; and Dean Wright, editor in chief of one of the world’s leading Internet news sites, MSNBC.com are three leading figures in newspapers, mobile telephones and the Internet who will confront the major issues facing the media today.
They will participate in a keynote session at the WEF summit to be held concurrently with the World Newspaper Congress and Info Services Expo 2004 in Istanbul from May 30 to June 2. “By bringing together newspapers, mobiles and the Internet, we hope to provide editors with some ideas about where their business is headed, and the opportunities that can arise,” said WEF Director Bertrand Pecquerie.
The question they will be asked is: “Do we need to reinvent journalism - and newspapers?” “The speed of online news, and its relevance to an audience that likes to personalize its news, makes it a factor that newspapers must respond to if they are to thrive,” says Wright, a former newspaperman who helped launch MSNBC.com into the web’s top news destination.
Vanjoki of Nokia argues that mobile telephones represent no less than a revolution in human interaction. “Mobile technology is bringing all information, fun, relationships, work and two-way communication online everywhere, and the possibility to share contextual information with anybody, anywhere, changes the way we live, form our social life and use information,” he says.
Cebrian, a central figure in the intellectual and journalistic life in Spain, is well placed to represent newspapers in this debate. In addition to being the founding editor in chief of El Pais, his numerous books include “La Red” (the Network), on the meaning and impact of the accelerating development of the digital society. More than 1,000 chief editors, publishers, CEOs, other senior newspaper executives and their guests are expected to participate in the 57th World Newspaper Congress, 11th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo.
