Göteborg, Sweden - Newspaper companies are expanding in every direction – to online, video, mobile and beyond. And while growth and innovations are exciting new ways to reach more people than ever before and grow content monetization, publishers cannot afford to forget their core business: the newspaper, publishers agreed on Monday at the first session of the 61st annual World Newspaper Congress in Göteborg, Sweden.

“From now on, we have to be even bolder and more creative in the way we produce and distribute content. We have to be very aggressive in the way we organise our media companies. We have the challenge of what our public is going through, and newspapers, with their brands and credibility, will continue to be the guardians of freedom around the world,” Nelson Sirotsky, president and CEO of RBS Group in Brazil, told the congress.

One of the largest media companies in Brazil, RBS reaches 16 million people each day, through multiple television and radio outlets, eight newspapers and two Internet portals.

Investing in the core business is key, because it is what funds new projects and innovations, and is what enables newspaper companies to grow into the future, Sirotsky said.

Newspapers in the United States face the risk of survival, said Dean Singleton, vice chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group, Inc., the fourth largest newspaper company in the United States. The question is, can we act with urgency, innovation and manage the core legacy newspaper business and grow on new fronts, while attracting new talent? he asked the audience.

For MediaNews, the key business units are its core newspaper business, followed by the Internet and target publications, he said. MediaNews is one of the founding partners of Yahoo!'s newspaper consortium, which is an example of a solution the company found to help support its core business, while growing and expanding its online opportunities, he said.

It's also best to cut costs as necessary, and focus energy on the core business, he said. It's difficult, and sometimes isn't taken well by newspaper staff when functions, such as editing, are consolidated, while high-cost functions are outsourced, but sometimes it means the survival of the paper. Newspapers need to cope with uncertain economic times, not cling to ideals of the past, he said.

“Fond memories of dead newspapers will do nothing,” he told the audience.

Tim Bowdler, chief executive of Johnston Press, PLC, which owns 318 local and regional titles in the United Kingdom, told the congress that the industry does have “reasons for some optimism.”

Although the company's ad revenue declined seven percent in the first quarter of the year, Johnston Press titles have unrivalled access and reach with local readers, he said.

Newspaper companies must use their core business as a springboard into the future, he said.

“Newspapers need evolution, not revolution. It is essential for us to embrace and fully imbed a broader range,” he said.