Deutsch Gavin O'Reilly, the Chief Executive Officer of Ireland-based Independent News & Media PLC, has been elected the first President of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the organisation created by the July merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

Mr O'Reilly, 42, who had been President of WAN until the merger, was elected President of the new organisation at its first Annual General Meeting, held during the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Hyderabad, India.

Horst Pirker, Chairman of the Board of Austria-based Styria Media, was elected First Vice President and is in line for the Presidency when Mr O'Reilly's term ends in December 2010. Mr Pirker had been President of IFRA.

As Chief Executive Officer of Independent News & Media, Mr O'Reilly oversees a leading international newspaper group with more than 200 titles in Ireland, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India.

As President of WAN, Mr O'Reilly spearheaded a number of global initiatives for the industry, notably creation of the Automated Content Access Protocol to protect intellectual property rights of on-line publishers, and the formation of the News Media Coalition to defend open news coverage of sports and other events. WAN had also undertaken numerous press freedom and industry support initiatives during his tenure.

Fred Arp, Chief Financial Officer of the Telegraaf Media Group in the Netherlands, and Tore Stangebye, CEO of Norway-based Berner Gruppen, were elected Treasurers.

A list of Board Members of the new organisation can be found at here.

The World Editors Forum also elected four new Board members. They are: Wolfgang Krach, Deputy Editor, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany; Reetta Merilainen, Editor-in-chief, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland; Roman Gallo, Director, Nase Adresa, Czech Republic; and Paul Ramadge, Editor-in-chief, The Age, Australia.

The WAN-IFRA Annual General Meeting will be held next year on 10 June 2010, during the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Beirut, Lebanon. Newspapers world-wide are invited to attend the events, to be held from 7 to 10 June 2010.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, 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

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: larry.kilman@wan-ifra.org.