Online advertizing is "very intrusive", according to Bill Hill, director of advanced reading technologies at Microsoft. Hill, dressed in a kilt and speaking at a Q&A session of the 13th annual World Editors Forum in Moscow, said: "I feel very strongly about this. Adverts are very intrusive because they move, and that triggers a movement response in humans. It's far less intrusive in print. I think a method needs to be developed whereby the multi-media moving version of an advert only appears if you click on it."
Priit Hobemägi, Editor-in-Chief of Eesti Päevaleth in Estonia, told the 13th annual World Editors Forum in Moscow how his paper had been revolutionized, thanks to the help of the Cases i Asociats design team based in distant Barcelona.
That was the message of Juan Senor of the Innovation International Media Consulting Group, when presenting the 2006 Innovations in Newspapers report. Senor said: "Papers need to keep their SOUL. That means Sensuousness - use paper that feels good, that smells good, that doesn't make your fingers dirty. Omnipresence - your paper should be available everywhere. Unique - it should differentiate itself from the competitors. And Local - it needs to be connected to the local community."
Voralberger Nachrichten, a local newspaper in the Austrian region of Voralberg, won the Media Innovation Award at the 13th annual World Editors Forum in Moscow. The award was decided and presented by the Innovation International Media Consulting Group.
Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the USSR, told a private dinner at the 12th annual World Editors Forum that he was buying a stake in Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper considered the most critical of the Kremlin. he is teaming up with Alexander Lebedev, a businessman and MP, to buy 49% of the newspaper's shares. The remaining 51% will be owned by the editors' collective of Novaya Gazeta.
Bachi Karkaria, the Metro editor of the Times of India, and moderator of the panel on weekend editions at the 13th annual World Editors Forum in Moscow, began the question and answer session of the panel by asking if weekend editions were managnig to attract a younger audience.
Dmitri Medvedev, the deputy prime minister of Russia and potential successor to president Putin, today defended the role of Gazprom, state-owned gas company, as the country's largest owner of media assets.
Pierre Louette, the CEO of Agence France Presse, told the 13th annual World Editors Forum in Moscow that while news agencies like AFP faced new challenges from online innovations such as Google News, there would still be a role for agencies in the future, because they were reliable providers of factually accurate news.
After an interesting session entitled ‘Multimedia is now ready for print’, the audience got straight to the point in their questions: while all four panelists had shown the amazing potential on online news, which one of their teams was actually making any money from it?
Chrystia Freeland, the US editor of the Financial Times and former editor of FT.com, explained to the 13th Annual World Editors Forum in Moscow how FT.com is using online technology to find new ways of reaching readers. Here are some of the ways she mentioned.
Two activists from the National Bolshevik Party, a Russian radical youth organization, interrupted President Putin's welcoming speech to the 13th World Editors Forum at the Kremlin in Moscow. As Putin began his speech, in a hall protected by heavy security, the two activists unfurled a large Soviet Union flag, and chanted 'Putin is the executioner of freedom' in Russian, before being led away by security officials.
News Limited, the Australian newspaper group owned by Rupert Murdoch's International, is scrambling on all fronts to follow Murdoch's instructions and adjust to the digital revolution, according to Hugh Martin, editor of news.com.au.
