“I am proud every year this report comes out, but perhaps a bit extra proud this year. We are all under immense pressure in several ways, yet I see much hope for the future when I see the many exciting opportunities and competence that people at Schibsted represent,” says Kristin Skogen Lund, CEO at Schibsted.

UNESCO and the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) are joining forces to address the impending global emergency facing independent journalism. The announcement of the co-operation was made at the 40th-anniversary celebration of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), an inter-governmental forum for media development.
As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, the decimation of journalism in many areas of the world constitutes a growing threat, bringing existing challenges to a tipping point. Each month brings new reports of job losses in journalism and the closure of once-vibrant local media outlets.

The results of this year’s Asian Digital Media Awards were announced in a virtual ceremony held during the online edition of WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media Asia conference, and presented by veteran BBC, CNBC and Al-Jazeera news presenter, Teymoor Nabili, who is now CEO and Publisher of Tech for Impact Asia.

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.