One for all: PANPA merges with The Newspaper Works

OFFICIAL moves began today to amalgamate Newspaper Publishers’ Association and the industry advertising trade group, The Newspaper Works.

The chief executives of the four major publishers in Australia announced this morning their decision to create a single industry group for the country.

The new peak body will operate as The Newspaper Works.

The scope of the organisation will encompass advocacy, marketing and advertising, government lobbying, regulation, press freedoms and the environment.

The Newspaper Works will promote newspapers across all print and digital platforms to audiences such as advertisers, consumers, governments, shareholders and industry.

Members of the Newspaper Publishers’ Association, which incorporates the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association (PANPA), will benefit from a better resourced industry group with a wider range of skills.

A key step in the process of the amalgamation will be the necessity for the Association to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting of members to sanction the decision and approve how its reserves of funds should be allocated.

The chairman of The Newspaper Works, Greg Hywood, said: “Our industry needs one peak organisation with a strong voice to represent newspapers in the many forms they now take – print, web, mobile and tablet.”

Core NPA activities, such as the annual conferences and the Newspaper of the Year Awards, will continue.

The strength of much of the Association’s activities comes from the participation of members from New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Asia.

All the services and engagement previously under taken by PANPA will continue under the leadership of The Newspaper Works.

The awards held by PANPA are among the largest for newspapers in the world – and it is therefore vital that the new industry body succeeds in embracing and encouraging members to continue to participate in these important events.

The new organisation will also assume the responsibilities of the Publishers’ National Environment Bureau and the advertising compliance body, the Publishers’ Advertising Advisory Bureau, as they relate to newspapers.

Current Newspaper Works boss Tony Hale will continue as chief executive of the new-look organisation.

He said: “This is a big and exciting step. The time is right to create a new powerhouse for the industry given the success we’re recording with the explosion of new technology in our industry.”

“Our many audiences can only benefit from The Newspaper Works’ new scope of operation.”

The staff of the NPA will move under the banner of The Newspaper Works, and they will continue to produce services such as the weekly newsletter, News Now, the Bulletin newspaper, and the annual industry yearbook, plus a YouTube channel, regular
tweets and Facebook updates.

The Association also runs two websites – www.panpa.org.au, and www.mediaplanet.org.au, which is designed to highlight industry best practices – as well as an iPhone app.

Work will begin in the New Year to integrate these the Newspaper Works website.

The new body will create new Advisory Groups to cover core industry areas.

Participants will set agendas and conduct actions for the benefit of the industry.

The new industry body will represent all newspapers including regional, suburban and community and we will engage with partners, suppliers and key stakeholders as we always have done through PANPA.

PANPA’s relationship with New Zealand and Asia-Pacific titles remains important.

Read the press release here.

Watch the video for Greg Hywood and Tony Hale’s comments on the merger: