Jacob Mathew elected president of WAN-INFRA

Jacob Mathew, executive editor of Malayala Manoramag group of publications, has been unanimously elected president of WAN-INFRA, a global organisation of newspaper editors and publishers.

Mathew is the first Indian and second Asian to be elected to this office. The elections took place at the WAN-INFRA annual general meeting in Dublin, Ireland.

He will succeed Gavin KO Reilly, group executive officer of the Independent News and Media Group, Ireland, on July one, 2011. Tomas Brunegard, CEO, Stampen Group, Sweden was elected as the Vice President, according to a release.

WAN-INFRA based in Paris (France) and Darmstadt (Germany) 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 organisation founded in 1962, merged in 2009 to form WAN-IFRA.

The organisation's core mission is to defend and promote quality journalism, editorial integrity, press freedom and development of new media business.

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 INMA (International Newspaper Marketing Association).

He has served on the board and the Executive Council of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Mathew is the Past President of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) and past chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).