[2] WAN's objectives are to defend and to promote freedom of the press,[3] to support the development of newspaper publishing, and to foster global co-operation.

In 1970, it became IFRA (the INCA FIEJ Research Association) to treat the rapidly developing technical side of the publishing industry.

The two organisations had been discussing a merger, on and off, for more than five years, and had built up several similar products and services and had an increasing overlap in membership.

[10] In June 2024, DistriPress, a global trade association founded in 1955 to promote circulation and distribution of newspapers and magazines, was formerly merged into WAN-IFRA.

[10] WAN-IFRA carries out its work from headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, and in Paris, France, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, and Mexico.