WAN, IFRA Merger Would Benefit Online Publishing

Talks about the potential merger of IFRA and the World Association of Newspapers, two of the world’s largest newspaper media associations, are under way. The WAN Board met today in London and gave its executives the authority to talk to IFRA about a full merger of the two associations. WAN said that a joint announcement from the two organizations about the final shape of closer cooperation is expected at the end of January or the beginning of February. The IFRA Board will discuss the issue at its next meeting on January 19.

WAN, founded in 1948 and based in Paris, represents 72 national newspaper associations, plus 13 national news agencies, nine regional press organizations, individual newspaper executives from 102 nations. IFRA, founded in 1961 and based in Darmstadt, Germany, represents more than 3,000 publishing companies and suppliers worldwide.

A WAN/IFRA merger would greatly benefit the newspaper industry, which needs to coordinate new media efforts worldwide. The two associations have complementary strengths. WAN’s “Shaping the Newspaper of the Future” project is the world’s most conceptually advanced about what newspapers must do to survive in the 21st Century. IFRA is the world’s leader at newspaper printing technologies and has been pioneering the multimedia newsroom of the future at its Newsplex research facility in South Carolina. Combining and coordinating the world’s more advanced newspaper practices and technologies in print and online can’t but help the online newspaper industry.