The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has confirmed the new dates for its World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo, the global meetings of the world’s press, which will now be held in Hyderabad, from November 30 to December 2, 2009.
WAN announced last month that the events, originally scheduled for March, would be postponed until later in the year due to the impact of the global financial downturn on travel and conference budgets at newspaper companies.
“Our Indian colleagues have done a fantastic job in rescheduling all the arrangements, which is not an easy job for an event of such size and scope,” said Timothy Balding, the CEO of WAN.
“For our part, we believe newspaper companies will, by necessity, learn to live with the crisis over the year and be more willing to invest again in conferences and travel by the end of the year. These events have long been a major opportunity for newspaper executives from around the globe to meet and exchange strategic ideas, and the need for such exchanges is more important than ever.”
Last year’s events drew more than 1,800 participants from 113 countries to Göteborg, Sweden, a record for the 61-year old conference.
Full details of the 2009 events, including the evolving conference programme, can be found at www.wanindia2009.com/home.asp?LangId=2. The events are hosted by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS).
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom and the professional and business interests of newspapers world-wide. Representing 18,000 newspapers, its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and world-wide press groups.
