On October 3rd Ireland had its first joint meeting of members from The RNPAI (Regional Newspapers and Printers Association of Ireland) and the National Newspapers of Ireland. This meeting of minds took place on DCU campus, home to Irelands leading department in Communications and Journalism. Fitting that the practical side of the industry chose to return to a place where theory is key to examine, re-evaluate and re-assure. Starcom’s own Conor McDonnell was there to get the low down and give his opinion on what was said:
Press has for some time been looked upon as a dying industry, and for many this seminar may have been viewed as some sort of Wake for the industry. However, credit to the speakers, organisers and those who contributed to the Q&A’s who showed that there is certainly enough innovation, passion and determination in local press to adapt and succeed in what is becoming a digitally dependent world.
Joe Flaherty, President of RNPAI opened proceedings and spoke about the importance of community within a local paper, the value within that paper which may not report on ground breaking stories but stories that its readers need to know.
Frank Mulrennan, CEO of Celtic Media Group gave an energetic and enthusiastic introduction to Ashley Highfield, CEO of Johnston Press. This is a man who left University as an Engineer, his first job as a graphic designer led into a position in management. From there Ashley played a leading role in projects such as Microsoft Bing and BBC Video on Demand player, just the usual ground breaking stuff…. Now he’s at the forefront of British local press, attempting to rejuvenate the 300+ titles Johnston Press operate. Ashley believes in adapting press to coincide with digital, social media and mobile. He outlined that mobile has become a utility in daily life, he described how now all his titles websites will have VOD and all reporters equipped with software to update websites with new content when reporting. I’ll stop spilling the beans on Ashley’s 2013 strategic planning before I get a summoning, but it was evident he felt that local press still had a lot to bring to the table.
Per Axel Koch of Norway, Managing Director of Polaris Media built on the belief of community is key, pointing out that although Norway has had a steady economy over the last few years press has still struggled. They now have a range of website platforms over Web 2.0, Mobile and Tablet which gives customers accessibility anywhere to news which matters to them.
Joe Webb, Chief Executive of INM Ireland opened the 2nd half of the Seminar, as expected he started with a wave of optimism regarding the state of the industry. Blaming the economic downturn for the falling revenues, also brushing aside the direction Ashley Highfield felt press needed to go. It would have been interesting to hear Joe’s counter opinion however we were running behind and people had flights/drink receptions to get to.
Joe introduced us next to Lawrie Proctor, Managing Director of Mediaforce. Lawrie immediately apologised for the “bullsh#t” (His words) he was going to put us through, citing new terminology and trends titles must not peruse to attract clients. Lawrie was wonderfully blunt about what matters to him…Cash! and how he’s working with Titles to offer clients great new ways of advertising. Check out the Train vs. Plane (http://trainvplane.scotsman.com/) in the Scotsman to see just how Mediaforce are driving social media as a key strategy for their titles.
Finally Professor Steven Knowlton, Chair BA of Journalism in DCU offered his insight into the developing trends that press should be following. He gave a very enthusiastic 10 minute talk on his optimism for the industry, the strong loyalties that lie with local press and although it’s not “sexy news” which they report most of the time the content is still important to those from the area. He highlighted the alarming lack of research done into the Irish market and stressed that his department would be more than willing to work with the RNPAI and the National Newspapers of Ireland to produce relevant research into the Irish consumer and Irish trends.
The seminar as a whole was informative and intriguing, but you just hope that these titles now follow up and put into action some of the ideas which was put forward to them, or else it will be a very different and maybe smaller seminar next time around.
