CDNA AND NMB MERGED
By Adnews Staff
A task force struck last year to decide the fate of the Newspaper Marketing Bureau and the Canadian Daily Newspaper Association has decided that the two should be merged. A search is now on for someone to lead the new unified body. A single organization will be more cost effective, more focused and have more effective leadership, task force chairman Roger Parkinson told Adnews yesterday. The new body, called the Canadian Newspaper Association, will be set up by Oct. 1. Its focus will be on government lobbying, marketing daily newspapers as a medium - and something termed "professional affiliation" in a release. The one thing the CNA won't do that the NMB currently does is sell ad space for newspapers. The Newspaper Audience Databank (NADBank) research program will continue as a separate company under the CNA umbrella The CNA will have both a board of directors and a board of governors. The task force has set a deadline of July 1 for hiring a CEO to lead the organization and act as spokesperson, while the directors run the day-to-day management, make proposals and carry them out. The governors will have the final say on priorities, plans and budgets. Parkinson, who is publisher of The Globe and Mail, will chair the board of directors. Toronto Sun Publishing Corp. CEO Paul Godfrey will chair the board of governors. NMB president John Finneran will remain in his position until a CEO is named. Parkinson said Finneran would be a good candidate for the job, but Finneran himself was unavailable yesterday to say if he will apply. CDNA president John Foy is retiring July 1.