San Jose, CA February 6, 2002-Steve Rossi, Knight Ridder President/Newspaper
Division, will give the opening address at Editor and Publisher's 13th
Annual Interactive Newspapers Conference and Trade Show at the San Jose
Convention Center, San Jose, CA, on February 7 at 9:00a.m PT.
Speaking on the future of online newspapers, Rossi will speak about the
shift in self-perception that newspaper professionals must embrace in
order to meet the needs of multimedia-minded consumers. "We need
to think of ourselves as media people, not newspaper people," he
said. "We need to engage our newsrooms and leverage our tremendous
newsgathering and packaging capabilities to embrace multi-media content
creation and dissemination as our primary mission."
Rossi says that success in the media industry depends on four elements:
brand, reach, content and a business model responsive to market needs.
By focusing on the newspapers' local franchises and creating a locally
branded experience not provided by the large, national sites, newspaper
sites will prevail in their local and regional markets.
Before assuming his present position in 2001, Rossi served as Knight
Ridder's senior vice president/operations since 1998. From 1992 to 1998,
he was executive vice president and general manager of Philadelphia Newspapers.
As President of the Newspaper Division, his responsibilities include Knight
Ridder Digital, the online subsidiary of Knight Ridder.
Editor's Note: Mr. Rossi will speak from 9 -10am at the San Jose Convention
Center, corner of Almaden Boulevard and San Carlos Street, downtown San
Jose.
About Knight Ridder, Inc. and Knight Ridder Digital
Knight Ridder is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with
products in print and online. The company publishes 32 daily newspapers
in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership of 8.5 million daily and 12.6 million
Sunday. Knight Ridder also has investments in a variety of Internet and
technology companies and two newsprint companies. The company's Internet
operation, Knight Ridder Digital, creates and maintains a variety of innovative
online services, including Real Cities, the premier national network of
city and regional destination sites in 58 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder
and Knight Ridder Digital are located in San Jose, Calif. For more company
information, visit www.knightridder.com
or www.knightridderdigital.com.