In the world of global publishing, two names increasingly stand out and they both happen to be Irish.

Declan Moore is the international publisher at National Geographic while Rhona Murphy fills the same role at Newsweek. Each is responsible for doing the deals that keep these brands alive and prosperous in a era of profound change.

Part of that role sees Moore and Murphy responsible for the globalisation of their respective magazine's online brands and are therefore at the the centre of a new trend in online media: truly global news provision.

"There is a battle to be the global news brand," says fortysomething Dublin-born Murphy, who was responsible recently for restructuring Newsweek's global business, including cutting back the European subscriber base to focus on a more upmarket readership.

Trusted sources of information on a global scale appear to be one of the holy grails of the modern age. Murphy points out that fulfilling that role is not straightforward and, though familiar names appear to have a global presence, advertisers are looking for an integrated service from print through to television. As yet there is no clear winner.

"Your organisation has to be everywhere," says Murphy. "CNN has that but is not in print. Newsweek has a very strong base in the US from which it has built a network of offices all over the world. Time magazine is a competitor but has no presence in Latin America. The BBC is a global brand but not strong in the US."

As part of the strategy to provide global coverage, Murphy is expanding the base of the Newsweek website. "Newsweek.com is taking off faster than we can keep pace with," says Murphy. "In fact, we're practically sold out on ad inventory and looking to expand traffic outside the USA.

Moore, also Dublin born, began his career with National Geographic as a product manager for international video in 1995. He now oversees the expansion of the National Geographic brand online and internationally.

As an aside he points out that the Irish audience for National Geographic's website has expanded threefold since this time last year. But it is in providing authority in an era of information affluence that he attributes National Geographic's recent growth.

"We have a brand that equals quality in people's minds," says Moore, "even down to the quality of paper we use. So people turn to us to put information into context and increasingly so on the environment, which is in the DNA of National Geographic.

"Advertisers are looking for content that spans 360 degrees," he adds, "including print, TV and online. Last year, we began implementing a new content strategy of deeper, richer content around the core content National Geographic is known for: people, animals, the environment, photographic, world music. We have one of the largest libraries of world music on the web."

While Newsweek is resourcing its online expansion and now has different editions of its magazine in each major region along with eight languages (including Chinese and Japanese), National Geographic is focusing its strategy on the niche area that is also becoming of general concern - environmental issues.

Under Moore's leadership, international advertising sales at the magazine have doubled over the past two years and online sales year-to-date have tripled.

Moore and Murphy emphasise that the public is seeking authoritative sources, but there is also a change in the type of content people are seeking. "People come to us for a global perspective and, increasingly, they are coming to us for American news," says Murphy, pointing out that more of us are interested in how America is thinking.

With two Irish executives in such senior positions in the online publishing world, is there anything specifically about being Irish that explains their success?

The industry, Moore points out, is "increasingly about understanding communications". That ability to connect/empathise is a plus but he is not so sure that that is uniquely an Irishism.

"To a certain extent, I don't really see myself as part of the Irish diaspora per se, just feel part of a global business community."