More than 120 newsrooms across the world will mark World News Day 2020 on Monday 28 September, highlighting the critical role that journalism and professional newsrooms play in helping citizens make sense of the world. World News Day is an initiative driven by the Canadian Journalism Foundation and the World Editors Forum, the network for editors within WAN-IFRA. It was initiated in Canada in 2018, and this is the first year it is being celebrated as one integrated global event.

WAN-IFRA is announcing today ten new members who will be serving on its Supervisory Board of Directors. They were elected the Association's Annual General Assembly of Members held on Wednesday 16 September. Four new members will be serving on its Executive Board of Directors and twenty-five Supervisory Board Members were also reappointed for a new term of office at the same meeting.

The Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom award of the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), has been awarded to Colombian journalist, Jineth Bedoya Lima.

Newspaper Operations All-Stars and American Newspapers PIVOT 2020 Events
Collaborative virtual events empower, support newspaper leadership - October 6-8

WAN-IFRA Women in News (WIN) Leadership Accelerator programme kicks off in Vietnam. The 2-month long (August-September 2020) career training for women journalists and editors will include sessions on career development, media management, and gender balance in content. With COVID-19 changing the way news organisations operate, the programme will help women journalists acquire new skills and build their capacity for more successful careers.

The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), FTI Consulting and Google announced the launch of the APAC GNI Subscriptions Lab at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Leaders eSummit. The Lab is an intensive four-month programme to help eight different news publishers from the Asia-Pacific region strengthen digital subscriptions capabilities and grow reader revenue. Interested publishers can apply here until August 7, 2020.

Due to continued uncertainties and travel constraints around the COVID-19 pandemic, WAN-IFRA is calling off the World News Media Congress, which was initially planned for Zaragoza, Spain, in September 2020. Meanwhile, it has named Taiwan as its venue for the 2021 Congress and rescheduled the 2022 Congress in Zaragoza.

The World Editors Forum, WAN-IFRA's global network for editors news organisations, and Temasek Foundation launch new Young Media Leaders Fellowship Programme to groom future media industry leaders.

Amid a Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled global economies and is threatening the future of the media industry, 10 news media companies from six Asian cities are embarking on WAN-IFRA’s inaugural Newsroom and Business Transformation 2020 programme.

The Independent News Emergency Relief Coordination (INERC) is an effort to help assist funders willing and able to provide significant financial support for independent news media. INERC’s ambition is to guide the emergency funding to those independent news media around the world who need help the most in this challenging situation during the coronavirus crisis. It will support better understand where the need is greatest and coordinate the efforts to make the most significant possible difference in this difficult moment.

The winners of the WAN-IFRA European Digital Media Awards were announced on Thursday, 23 April - with 7 out of 9 coming from Denmark, Norway or Sweden. The Coronavirus crisis has made these projects more relevant than ever – not least in the category of Best Paid Content Strategy, as almost all publishers see a sharp rise in digital subscriptions.

In this op-ed, endorsed by the Board of the World Editors Forum (WEF), Warren Fernandez warns of wrenching changes to come and urges urgent action to minimise damage to the media, and democracy.