The World Printers Forum, similar in structure to WAN-IFRA’s World Editors Forum for senior newsroom executives, will address the issues of concern to the printing community and will work to bring innovation to all areas of newspaper production.

“Though digital media gets most of the attention today and is increasing the audiences for newspapers, it is important not to overlook print, which still attracts 2.5 billion daily readers and produces more than 93 per cent of newspaper company revenues globally,” said Vincent Peyrègne, CEO of WAN-IFRA.

“Our members engaged in printing and production operations, and the suppliers who provide much of the innovation in this sector, are key assets to our industry, and the World Printers Forum concept is the result of their requests for a global platform for the exchange of ideas and best practices.”

The World Printers Forum will come together with an inaugural conference at the World Publishing Expo 2014, the largest global trade exhibition for the news publishing and media industry to be held in Amsterdam from 13 to 15 October. The two-day conference will feature innovations in print from around the world, how to make the printing plant into an independent profit center, savings from “going green”, latest developments in digital printing, cost calculation models for digital printing and more.

Full details about the World Publishing Expo can be found at http://www.worldpublishingexpo.com

The World Printers Forum (WPF) will guide WAN-IFRA’s activities in all areas of newspaper production, materials and sustainability. This will include promoting the unique value of print, encouraging the creation of innovative products, as well as developing new business models for print and operating printing plants as an independent profit center.  

The WPF, which will take final form at the Expo in October, is expected to be driven by a board comprised of printing and production experts and representatives from the technology supplier companies.

“The World Printers Forum will be the home for the print community within WAN-IFRA”,  said Manfred Werfel, WAN-IFRA Deputy CEO and Executive Director. “With this decision, the Advisory Council made it clear that print is an integral part of the news publishing business, still full of innovation and a powerful platform for newspaper publishers worldwide. In combination with mobile digital publishing platforms, print contributes to the success of newspaper publishing. The World Printers Forum will set the focus in this area and combine forces of publishers, printers and suppliers.”

Other topics for the Forum include the productivity and profitability of newspaper production in future, production control between editorial and delivery, linking print and digital publishing, digital printing and other new technologies. The World Printers Forum should deal with research and development on production topics, benchmarking of newspaper production, technical standards and certification of standardized production, quality awards, and effectiveness and sustainability of print.

For more information related to the World Printers Forum, please contact:
Manfred Werfel, Deputy CEO and Executive Director, manfred.werfel@wan-ifra.org

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.