Readership Conference to Feature Critic William Powers

Associated Press Service
William Powers, Media Critic for the US-based National Journal and author of³Hamlet¹s Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal,² has joined the programme of the11th Readership Conference and Expo, to be held in Amsterdam, TheNetherlands, on 16 and 17 October next.Mr Powers¹ report on the power of print provides compelling evidence aboutwhy paper will endure. ³There are cognitive, cultural and social dimensionsto the human-paper dynamic that come into play every time any kind of paper,from a tiny Post-it note to a groaning Sunday newspaper, is used to convey,retrieve or store information," he writes. "Paper does these jobs in a waythat pleases us, which is why, for centuries, we have liked having itaround. It's also why we will never give it up as a medium."Mr Powers will make a keynote address on ³The Eternal Power of Print² at theReadership Conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers. Theevent, which will draw hundreds of publishers, editors, marketers and othersenior newspaper executives from dozens of countries to Amsterdam, aims tohelp newspaper companies develop audiences on both print and digitalchannels.The evolving programme for the conference, which runs back-to-back with theWAN World Digital Publishing Conference and Expo, can be found athttp://www.wan-press.orgMr Powers is the media critic for National Journal. His weekly column, "Onthe Media," offers commentary on a broad range of media topics. The columnis widely read in media circles and beyond, and is often cited in othernational news outlets. Before joining National Journal in 1997, he was astaff writer at The Washington Post, and a senior editor of The NewRepublic.He wrote ³Hamlet¹s Blackberry² for the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press,Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. It can be downloaded athttp://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/research_publications/papers/discussion_papers/D39.pdfThe Readership Conference, formerly known as the Editor & MarketeerConference, will showcase new ideas and initiatives that have provensuccessful in delivering continued audience growth on all platforms.The topics to be covered include:- New audience strategies. Confirmed speakers include Thomas Drensek,Managing Director of Axel Springer in Germany, Randy Bennett, Vice Presidentfor Audience Development for the Newspaper Association of America, and MaryLou Fulton, Vice President, Audience, for the Bakersfield Californian.- Making life easy for readers, featuring Mario Garcia, President ofUS-based Garcia Media and Stephen Gray, Managing Director of the NextProject of the American Press Institute.- The new newsroom: broadcast, print and web. Valery Levchenko, of theRussian News Agency Ria Novosti will be featured in this session.- The new newspaper opportunity, which will feature Sören Karlsson,Editor-in Chief, of hd.se in Sweden, and other speakers to be announced.- Shaping the Future of the Newspaper, featuring Steve Auckland, ManagingDirector of Metro, published by Associated Newspapers in the United Kingdom,and Christian Ortner, Editor-in-Chief, of Vorarlberger Nachrichten inAustria.The conference will also include the presentation ceremony for the 2008World Young Reader Prize, sponsored by Norske Skog, the global paperproducer, as part of its support for WAN's Newspapers in EducationDevelopment Project.The Readership Conference and Expo will run consecutively to the 3rd WorldDigital Publishing Conference & Expo, to be held on 15-16 October at thesame venue. Register for both events and save 25 percent on the secondregistration. Full details at www.wan-press.org . Suppliers to the industrywishing to join the Expo can contact Jodie Hopperton by e-mail atjhopperton@wan.asso.fr