Ideas from the Commonwealth Editors' Forum

Posted by John Burke on February 22, 2005 at 11:23 AM

The Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) is holding its biennial conference in Sydney, Australia from February 20-22, and includes the Commonwealth's Editors' Forum. 80 to 100 senior editors are attending the sixth forum and all major newspaper groups in the Commonwealth support the conference. Below are a few of the main ideas that have are being discussed.

1.) Websites boost brand loyalty: Publishing a paper's news online is now obligatory, but editors need to clarify certain issues, such as charging for the website, deciding how much content should be published online, and determining what effect the website will have on sales and circulation. Keith Perch, Editor and Managing Director of the UK's Northcliffe Electronic Publishing pointed to a survey of his company's websites which showed that its internet readers were also the biggest readers of the print edition. "It would appear that, for the fans of our newspapers, the websites simply strengthened that loyalty, despite the fact that the content was pretty much duplicated," said Perch. "On the whole people buy the newspaper because they like the newspaper, they use the internet site when it suits them and, in general, it doesn't stop them buying the paper." However, some statistics of completely losing some readers to the internet were still a bit worrisome. To bring them back, Perch suggested that editors rework their display of and distinguish between the content of print and online editions in an attempt to adapt to this changing readership who has become accustomed to the immediacy of online news, something with which print can't compete.

2.) Appeal to your market: Editor-in-Chief of South Africa's Sunday World, Thabo Leshilo, says that newspapers need to realize that they are not being made for journalists, rather for the public and thus, they need to heed their readers' desires. He uses the example of his paper which was once a quality broadsheet with a staff of great journalists, but which failed to sell much more than 35,000 daily copies. The paper then researched its readership and realizing that they were fed up with politics, decided to change their focus, transforming itself into a tabloid printing stories of sex, drugs, music and soccer. Two years after launching its tabloid format, the papers' readership grew to 200,000. Terry Quinn, editor-in-chief of Australia's APN News & Media agrees, telling conference participants that "readers are our leaders" and that the only way to build loyal readership is to give the readers exactly what they want.

3.) Newspaper reporter versus public citizen: Related to the public's lack of interest in political issues and ensuing changes in the focus of newspapers is the mistrust that the public has developed for reports on health issues, specifically HIV/AIDS, vaccinations and epidemics in Africa. Health Editor of The Independent, Jeremy Laurance, told participants that editors need to tone down their journalists' reports, making sure that they are not exaggerated which has made the public increasingly skeptical. The negative impact of controversial stories has converse effects on readership and circulation. Editors need to better distinguish between their papers' ability to tell a good story and their role in raising public awareness.

Source: Commonwealth Press Union

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