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Media collaboration and co-operation is one way to deal with the new challenges of the digital revolution, newspaper editors and managers from round the world heard yesterday.

Addressing the 60th World Newspaper Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, Akishige Tada, the chairman of the board of Japan's 47 News/Press Net, explained how 52 Japanese newspapers had launched a unique digital news and information platform in 2006.

Named after the 47 provinces in Japan, 47News represents a single portal for the 52 member newspapers' 25 million readers, many of whom enjoy access to broadband (almost two thirds of households in Tokyo).

An example of unprecedented media company co-operation in Japan, the portal enables the development and sharing of new technologies, the growth of advertising revenue and the capacity to interact more effectively with readers, Mr Tada told delegates.

"The success of our project will depend on whether we can produce good content and to this end editors need to change their mentality," Mr Tada said, adding that Japanese editors were determined to uphold traditional journalism values in the face of the challenge of the internet.

"We've taken a step forward but, like mountaineers, we have a long way to reach the next base camp and even further before we make an attempt on the summit."

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John Thompson

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