Tomas Brunegård, chairman of Sweden’s Stampen Media Group, is the new president of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
He was elected to a two-year term during WAN-IFRA’s annual meetings here. He succeeds Jacob Mathew of the Kerala-based Malayala Manorama .
Mr. Brunegård said: “I look forward to contributing to the development of our industry’s multimedia and multifaceted future, and, most importantly, to enhance the WAN-IFRA core mission of defending and promoting press freedom, and the economic independence of news media as an essential condition of that freedom.
Mr. Brunegård (50) has been a member of WAN-IFRA’s Board since 2003 and chairman of its Press Freedom and Media Development Board. His goals include developing a global innovation hub for the industry, increasing cooperation with media industry stakeholders including advertisers, broadcasters, and digital players, developing the organisation’s services in growing markets, and strengthening its role in Europe and North America.
Five members were elected to the Board. Of them, Alessandro Bompieri, managing director of RCS Quotidiani, Italy, represents the Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali (FIEG). Liam Kavanagh, managing director of The Irish Times , represents National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI). Luis Enríquez Nístal, CEO of Vocento, represents the Asociacion De Editores De Diarios Espanoles (AEDE), Spain. César Pérez, president of the Asociación Ecuatoriana de Periódicos (AEDEP), Ecuador is another member. Dipankar Das Purkayastha, managing director and chief executive officer of ABP Private Limited, based in Kolkata, represents the WAN-IFRA advisory council.
The 65th World Newspaper Congress, the 20th World Editors Forum, and the 23rd World Advertising Forum were held in Bangkok from June 2 to 5.
Speakers in the Editors Forum from the South Asian region included Zafar Abbas, Editor, Dawn (Pakistan), citizen journlist Sanjana Hattotuwa (Sri Lanka), and Siddharth Varadarajan, Editor, The Hindu.
WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore and India, 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 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. Its core mission is to defend and promote press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity and the development of prosperous businesses.
