NEW DELHI: Though the entire world is being overtaken by a convergence wave riding on the wings of digital technology, those in the newspaper industry are trying their best to keep the print medium alive through various methods including tackling newer subjects or blending newer technologies.

The World Association of Newspapers has slated a large number of events this year to keep alive the spirit of reading, which continues to grow despite the growth of television and the Internet.
A World Newspaper Advertising Conference and Expo is being held on February 22 and 23 in Zurich (Switzerland) to examine what newspapers are doing to increase advertising revenues and market share. The meet is being hosted by Swiss Press.

Early next month, there is a meet on ‘Digital Winners – Mobile Strategies for Newspapers’ in Oslo (Norway). Hosted by Telenor Broadcast and to be held on March 8 and 9, the meet will focus on how newspapers can follow the strategic lessons from mobile, Television and internet to make money from digital media. The conference will highlight what mobile solutions are available and why these have to be included in multi-media strategies. Subjects to be covered include ‘Mobile marketing; experiences and success stories’, ‘The digital user revolution’, and ‘Disruptive changes in the media industry’, ‘Adopting to the new business environment’.

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The Seventh World Young Reader Conference and Expo from March 25 to 28 in Washington will explore the full range of new strategies and tactics newspapers for reaching young readers who are accustomed to getting their news and information through non-traditional means. Hosted by the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, the meet will feature speakers from around the world. Studies will include those of cases of how newspapers learned to think young throughout the organisation without alienating the core readership both in print and via other multi-media channels, ‘Connecting a social network generation to our paper: how we did it’, ‘Myspace.com in print: how we did it’, and ‘Newspapers in Education (NIE) that works: How to get started or get even better in this core strategy for anyone who still wants to be doing print in 15 years’.

The Sixtieth World Newspaper Congress, the 14th World Editors Forum, and Info Services Expo 2007, are being held in Cape Town from June 3 to 6. Hosted by the Newspaper Association of South Africa, the meet will discuss “Quality Journalism in the Digital Age” in nine sessions and eleven social events. Subjects include ‘The multi-newspaper newsroom is born!’ talking of the first newspapers that manage merged newsrooms, ‘Integrated newsrooms: what print does best and what online does best’ with examples of working mergers between print and online newsrooms, ‘Sharing best practices: five examples of newspaper cooperation’ where five prominent editors from around the world will present new ways of cooperative work among newsrooms and ‘Reuters Master Class on Web 2.0: is user generated content bringing anything new to news?’ by Reuters which is a partner of the 2007 Forum.

Other events include the Third Middle East Publishing Conference is to be held on April 17 and 18 in Dubai on “The Middle East – The New Newspaper Revolution” to explore the rapid change occurring to newspapers in the region and around the world, and the World Digital Publishing Conference and Expo and World Editor and Marketeer Conference & Expo will be held from October 17 to 19 in Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

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