| NEW
DELHI: The secrets of the world’s highest read daily newspaper – with
a certified print audience of an astonishing 54.5 million – will be among
the fascinating 'local' stories to be told as the world’s press gathers for
its summit meetings in Hyderabad in December. Dainik
Jagran, which tops the newspaper planet’s readership league, is only one
example of a newspaper industry which continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Developing
literacy and wealth are part, but far from the real story: Great credit needs
also to be given to Indian newspaper professionals, who are re-inventing the newspaper
to keep it vibrant and compelling in the digital age.
Their
strategies will be examined in depth when the World Newspaper Congress, World
Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2009 come to Hyderabad from 30 November to
3 December. Although
broadband and mobile are booming in India, print newspapers are growing right
along with them. The country has more daily newspapers than any other nation and
leads in paid-for daily circulation, surpassing China for the first time in 2008.
Twenty of the world’s 100 largest newspapers are Indian. Newspaper circulation
rose a further 8 percent last year. Participants
a the Congress, Forum and Expo, the annual summit meetings of the world’s
press, will hear from the publishers and editors of some of India’s most
innovative companies, including: Chairman/Managing Director and Managing Editor
Mahendra Mohan Gupta, and CEO and Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Gupta of Jagran Prakashan
(Dainik Jagran); CEO for Publishing of Bennett, Coleman & Co. (Times Group)Ravi
Dhariwal; Editor-in-chief, of the Times of India Jaideep Bose; Managing Director
of Mid-Day Infomedia Tariq Ansari,; Co-Editor-in-Chief Harinder Baweja of Tehelka;
Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of India Today Aroon Purie and many others. More
than 1,500 publishers, chief editors, CEOs, managing directors and other senior
newspaper executives are expected in Hyderabad following last year’s record
gathering in Göteborg, Sweden. In
addition to the Indian presenters, WAN-IFRA is bringing international newspaper
industry leaders to speak at the events, the global summit meetings of the world’s
press. They include: Editor-in-Chief of Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal
Robert Thomson; Andreas Wiele, President of BILD, Europe’s largest newspaper;
Olivier Fleurot, the CEO of Publicis Events Worldwide and its public relations
and corporate communications arm, PRCC – and former CEO of the Financial
Times Group; Terry Horne, Publisher and President, The Orange County Register,
United States; Martim Figueiredo, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, 'i' daily newspaper,
Portugal; Per Bowallius, President GISAB, Mitt i, the Swedish free weekly newspaper
publisher; Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-chief, The Guardian, United Kingdom; Walter
de Mattos, Editor-in-chief, Lance, Brazil; Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief, Citypress,
South Africa; and Steve Engelberg, Managing Editor, Propublica.org, United States
among others. The
events will also feature the 2009 Global Report on Innovations in Newspapers by
the Innovation International Media Consulting Group, and the annual WAN-IFRA update
on World Press Trends. | 
