Dimokratia, Greek Newspaper Launched in Tough Times

Greek Newspaper Launched in Tough Times

Launching a daily, paid-for general interest newspaper in the midst of a nation’s economic meltdown is not for the faint hearted. Publisher John Filippakis is proving his mettle after doing just that with the up-and-coming Dimokratia in Greece.

Mr Filippakis, who brought 20 years of publishing experience to the new daily, will share Dimokratia’s success story at the 64th World Newspaper Congress during a session entitled, “Leadership: Steering the new news organization.” His experience is likely to provide useful lessons for any publisher facing the challenge of difficult economic markets.

The leadership session at Congress, held in conjunction with the 19th World Editors Forum in Kiev, Ukraine, from 2-5 September next, will also include: Anna Kirah, Senior Design and Innovation Anthropologist with Steria in Norway, Earl Wilkinson, Executive Director and CEO of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA), Bill McDonald, President and Publisher of Metro English in Canada, and Rod Banner, founder of the advertising agency Banner Corporation.

More than 1,000 newspaper publishers, chief editors and other senior newspaper executives from more than 100 countries are expected to attend the 64th World Newspaper Congress and 19th World Editors Forum, the global summit meetings of the world’s press, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

Full details, including the full programme and registration information, can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/kiev2012

After hitting the streets in Athens in 2010, Dimokratia quickly established itself as a dynamic conservative editorial voice in the country, relying heavily on newsstand sales (85 per cent) and little on advertising (15 per cent). It now features a Sunday edition, as well as an edition for northern Greece.

Mr Filippakis says connecting to a like-minded market paved the way for the paper’s future.

“Contrary to some brands that are a product of extensive market research, and tone down their agenda and values so as not to alienate any potential readers, Dimokratia was born on the assumption that there was a distinct psychographic and demographic target group that held the same value set as our paper's founding team.”

In this case, he said that meant males who are 40-plus years old, middle class and, crucially, are also heavy readers of newspapers in print.

WAN-IFRA has also launched a Congress and Forum blog, with background information about speakers, the venue, and some of the hot topics to be examined: http://www.wan-ifra.org/kiev2012_blog

Other Congress sessions include:

- Winners shaping the future, a look at some of the more successful new business models, technology and forms of journalism emerging today, featuring Michael Golden, Vice Chairman of the New York Times Company; Greg Hywood, Chief Executive Officer of Australia-based Fairfax Media; Gwen Lister, founder and Executive Director of The Namibian; and Tor Halvorsen and Vidar Herre, News Editor and photojournalist, respectively, with Avisa Hordaland in Norway.

- Around the world in 60 minutes, a tour of the latest media trends emerging world-wide, featuring Tomas Brunegård, CEO of Stampen Group in Sweden; Carlos Fernando Lindenberg Neto, CEO of Rede Gazeta in Brazil, Caroline Little, President and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America; Mohamad Alayyan, Publishers and Chairman, United Jordan Press; Pichai Chuensuksawadi, Editor in Chief of The Bangkok Post in Thailand; Trevor Ncube, Deputy Executive Chairman of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian; and Maxim Melnikov, CEO, Media3, Russia.

- New revenue strategies, which will examine new – and more importantly, sustainable – growth strategies, featuring Jacob Møller, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions for Schibsted in Sweden; Florian Bauer, Board member of Vocatus in Germany; Leonyd Bershidsky, Editor-in-Chief, of Forbes magazine in Ukraine; and other speakers to be announced.

- Digital compass: Where are we going, who is leading the way?, which will examine the latest developments in paid content, tablet, mobile and video and the industry’s best paid-for apps, featuring Annelies van den Belt, CEO, SUP, Russia; Christoph Keese, Head of Public Relations, Axel Springer, Germany; Simon Regan-Edwards, Head of Technology for The Times and Sunday Times in the UK; Tor Jacobsen, Managing Director of Verdens Gang in Norway; Mikael Pentikainen, Publisher and Senior Editor-in-chief, Sanoma, Finland; Marc Challinor, Head of Mobile, The Daily Telegraph, UK; Morten Henriksen, CIO Berner Gruppen, Norway; and Dietmar Schantin, Founder of the Institute of Media Strategies, Austria.

- Reeling in readers and advertisers, a session dedicated to audience development featuring John Cruickshank, Publisher of the Toronto Star in Canada; Laura Evans, Head of Audience Insight & Analytics at Dow Jones in the United States; Cathy Ma, head of Social Media for Time Inc.’s IPC Media; Thibaut Potdevin, Commercial manager, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Ukraine; and Viktoria Mizerna, Editor of Mass Media Development for The Day in Ukraine.

- Print plus, which examines innovations in print, the primary source of revenue for newspaper publishers, featuring Rainer Esser, CEO of Die Zeit in Germany; Amandeep Singh Khurana, Chief Operating Officer of Madison Media Plus in India; and Johan Malmsten, Co-founder and CEO of Netherlands-based European Daily.

- Lessons from emerging markets, where digital media in particular is developing rapidly, featuring Anne Nelson, Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in the United States; William Pike, CEO of Star Publications in Kenya; Vladimir Sungorkin, Editor-In-Chief and General Director, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia; and other speakers to be announced.

- 30 ideas in 30 minutes, which will present winning strategies for attracting the young, featuring Aralynn McMane, Executive Director of Young Reader Development at WAN-IFRA; Gregory Kunis, Managing Director of Moi Rayon in Russia, and other speakers to announced.

- Innovations in Newspapers 2012, the annual Congress and Editors Forum session on the most interesting developments in the newspaper industry, by the Innovations International Media Consulting Group and presented by Innovations Partner Juan Señor.

- World Press Trends, the annual “State of the Industry” presentation, with a look at global and regional figures on trends in circulation, readership, revenue and advertising, in both digital and print, presented by Larry Kilman, Deputy CEO of WAN-IFRA.

- Plus much more! Full details and registration information can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/kiev2012

As always, the events are accompanied by an array of social events, gala dinners and lunches and are considered to be the premier opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. Its core mission is to defend and promote press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity and the development of prosperous businesses.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Deputy CEO and Director of Communications and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA, 96 bis, rue Beaubourg, 75003 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 07. Fax: +33 1 42 78 92 33. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: larry.kilman@wan-ifra.org