In recent months, the phrase "audience first" seems to be gaining resonance within the news industry, such as this example from a blog post by Mark Potts, now VP of Content at the Kansas, USA-based The World Company (publisher of the Lawrence Journal-World). Yesterday on Nieman Lab, industry analyst Ken Doctor shared another excellent example from a recent conference presentation by Grzegorz Piechota, News Editor and Head of Public Awareness at Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza. "What made Piechota’s talk stand out was his focus on community and the aggressive public journalism his company practices," Doctor writes. His post includes video of Piechota's presentation.

In an extract from an ebook, South African weekly Mail & Guardian offers an interesting look at the extensive global plans of Cape Town-based Naspers and its chief executive, Koos Bekker. Author Anton Harber discusses not only in what markets the company is expanding into but also how the company operates in those markets (leaving issues relating to content and censorship to its local partners). Harber also makes it clear that Naspers is placing its bets on global growth, especially in China: "Eighty percent of its current market value is based on its China investment and 10% on its Russian investment. The other 10% includes all of Africa. Naspers may loom large in South Africa, but South Africa no longer looms large in the bigger corporate picture," he writes.