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"We see our main competitors as the BBC or CNN," Will Lewis, Telegraph editor

Posted: 23/05/08 By: Oliver Luft
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Editor-in-chief of the Telegraph Media Group told the Google Zeitgeist conference the arrival of multimedia reporting meant he now saw CNN and the BBC as the main competition.

Speaking at the event earlier this week Will Lewis told delegates that online the Telegraph was looking beyond the traditional rivalries of Fleet Street and focusing on the needs of the consumer.

"What has happened in our industry is that the traditional distinction between text and video is fusing and the Holy Grail is to now develop a content site or stream of content that is text and videos," he said.

"Without being too highfaluting about it we see our main competitors as being people like the BBC or CNN.

"Both of which are trying to use video and text to enable users to decide how they find out about a story.

"Who am I to say that the only way you can find out about the Chinese Earthquake is in words, who is the BBC to say you can only do it in video. You have to provide both."

The newspaper industry’s traditional response to new ideas, he said, was to 'bury its head in the sand' rather than embrace enterprise.

Unlike some of other newspaper publishing companies, he added, he did not see conference hosts Google or other online referral sites as competition to the Telegraph, instead insisting that these sites benefited the publication rather than detracting from it.

"A lot of people in our industry think Google is an enemy. We love Google it brings an enormous amount of business to our door. We love Digg too, it brings enormous amount of business to us. Embrace the people that help you grow a new business is our general mantra."

Growth projections for the Telegraph, he added, predicted that it would become significantly bigger in digital publishing than in print and this was, in part, fuelled by customers in the UK wanting to access content across several platforms.

Lewis was speaking just before news broke that Telegraph.co.uk had for the first time moved ahead of Guardian.co.uk as the most popular newspaper website in the UK.

Watch Will Lewis (and others) speak here (Lewis’ section starts about 42 minutes in):

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