Relocated from a Bangkok venue which is no longer standing following riots earlier this year, Publish Asia delivered a comprehensive two-day programme in Kuala Lumpur, aimed nominally at chief executives, newsroom and printing heads. And while Thailand’s loss was Malaysia’s gain, WAN-Ifra Asia will give Bangkok another go next year, board chairman Pichai Chuensukawadi announced. Although the digital media component in the annual Asia Media Awards has been moved to November’s digital media days in Singapore – and entry in the ‘best in print’ categories were restricted to those who had already signed up for the association’s International Color Quality Club – there was enough content in both categories to be of interest. The upbeat outcome of WAN-Ifra’s world newspaper trends report, presented by recently-appointed chief executive Christophe Riess – opened the event, and the 400 or so delegates from Asia and India could console themselves that growth in their markets was a major contributor to the positive figures. The picture from Australia and Oceania was less rosy, but there were lessons to be learned from those Down Under… not least Fairfax Media business development manager and Peter Owen, group executive editor of APN Australian Regional Media (as it now calls itself). Both emphasized the importance of content and audience in the equation, and it was Owen who remarked to me that the conference programme appeared slightly skewed towards process rather than the content elements. Speakers from Europe, the UK and USA also contributed to the programme, as well as those from Asia and India, and it was reassuring to learn that the bad news of the North American market is not being replicated around the world. At least yet. Utusan executive chairman Tan Sri Hashim Makaruddin emphasized the need to create new revenue streams as well as cut costs – “success requires contact innovation,” he says – while Chuensukawadi (Bangkok Post) welcomed the opportunity to share experiences relevant to the region, after a two-year hiatus. Riess presented data garnered from 233 countries and other sources and will now offer for sale to members and non-members. “We have tried to separate the effects of the recession from the trends for the future,” he says. Amid the difficult-to-present string of figures were some glimmers of hope, not least that print advertising was recognised as twice as effective than TV, and “much more so than online”. Microsoft Advertising and OAA had come to “more or less the same conclusion,” he says. He echoed Rupert Murdoch’s view that the ‘fortune’ the news industry spends on newsgathering needs to be paid for. “He’s right, I hope, that people understand they will have to pay (for news)… if not, newspapers will have to work on it.” Riess who took up his appointment at the beginning of February, is largely new to the ‘news industry’ (he was previously interim sales and managing director of Mitsubishi Paper and worked for Paperlinx subsidiary Deutsche Papier) and there were other times when delegates sought to separate theory from practice. In one newsroom session, a frustrated delegate prefaced his question to WAN-Ifra PEGM executive director Dietmar Schantin with, “I don’t know whether you’ve ever edited a newspaper, but…” As usual the organisers peppered the programme with the expert opinions of fulltime staff, and more than a few plugs for products and services. Schantin launched the concept of a system of benchmarking of newsroom integration (provoking the remark above), and WAN-Ifra Asia’s Gilles Demptos – who comes from experience in Spain – launched a new Asian Production Forum by handing out a sheet asking delegates what they wanted it to be. Anthony Cheng – who apart from being production executive vice president of Singapore Press Holdings is president of the independent South East Asia Newspapers Group – has accepted the role of chairman. Utusan production general manager Jamal Khail Mohamed Isa, New Straits Times Press production general manager Aszman Kasmani and Star senior manager Mohamed Hassan Mohd Ali contributed to a panel discussion, and Cheng concluded with the observation that anyone who wanted more from the four of them could come to Jakarta in September (where the SEANG conference is being held). • Full coverage in GXpress Magazine August 2010.