The 54th World Newspaper Congress, to be held in Hong Kong in June, looks set to be an arena for fascinating debate. On one hand, profits for newspapers are booming.
Circulations are steady, advertising is up, but the industry is beset by uncertainty.
Many publishers have an ambivalent attitude to the internet, particularly after 2000 s stock plunges. A new realism is guiding newspaper ventures on the net, and publishers are keeping a wary eye on revenue-raising experiments such as subscriptions and corporate sponsorship. Despite this caution, results from the US and UK show online advertising overtaking print advertising spends for the first time. There is a general feeling in the newspaper industry that major changes are necessary as consumer and business environments transform. If nothing else, the events of the past year have shown that the new economy is still terra incognita, and while the gold rush is probably over, there are still rewards out there for publishers able to augment their current business in the electronic marketplace.