Jacob Mathew, executive editor of the Malayala Manorama Group of Publications, has been unanimously elected to be the president of WAN-IFRA at its annual general meeting in Dublin, Ireland.
He is the first Indian and second Asian, after Dr Seok Hyun Hong of Korea, to be elected to this office. Jacob Mathew succeeded Gavin K O'Reilly, group chief executive officer of The Independent News and, Ireland on July 1, 2011.
WAN-IFRA based in Paris and Darmstadt is a global organisation of newspaper editors and publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3000 companies in more than 120 countries.
The World Association of Newspapers, founded in 1948 and IFRA, the Research and Service organization founded in 1962, merged in 2009 to form WAN-IFRA. Its core mission is to defend and promote quality journalism, editorial integrity, press freedom and development of new media business, a media release stated.
Jacob Mathew is currently a trustee of the Press Institute of India/Research Institute for Newspaper Development and is also on the Asia Board of International Newspaper Marketing Association.
He has served on the board and the Executive Council of the World Association of Newspapers. Jacob is the past president of the Indian Newspaper Society and has been the past chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India.
Image: Jacob Mathew
