Murdoch MacLennan, Telegraph Group, on 2006 business

newspaper techniques: When you eventually look back at 2006, what is the one main business issue that you feel will define 2006 for your company and for the newspaper industry worldwide? This will be the year that ... what?

Murdoch MacLennan: I am sure that the quality sector in the British newspaper market can look forward to 2006 - and the years beyond - with quiet confidence. Of course we face challenges. The business models that have sustained us over the years are changing rapidly - as readers and advertisers migrate on-line. Digital technology is changing the way people read - and view - their news. But British newspapers, like the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, thrive on such challenges.

There are huge opportunities for imaginative and dynamic newspapers like ours in this changing world to win a new generation of readers - not necessarily for our printed papers, but a whole new range of digital products that give people of every age group the news when, where and how they want it.

That requires a substantial culture change of the sort the Telegraph Media Group has pioneered with our move to an integrated newsroom in our new offices in central London and an unprecedented training programme for our journalists. If we adapt to the multimedia world, we will not just survive but prosper.

The future is only bleak for those sit back and decide to do nothing. That is one of the reasons why IFRA - with its unrivalled access to new ideas and fresh thinking - is so important to us all.

Page first published: 09.11.2006