WAN will also be making its first Gebran Tueni Award, given to an Arab newspaper executive who demonstrates exemplary free press values and ambitions to sustain independence, and will launch an Arab Newspaper Development Project, to aid the business development plans of news companies in the region.

The "Media in Danger - Press Under Siege" conference, to be held in Beirut on 10 and 11 December, will draw attention to the threat against a free press in the Arab world. Speakers include the Prime Minister of Lebanon, media personalities from across the region including Abdel Rahman El Rached, General Manager of the Al-Arabiya News Channel, and international media personalities including Thomas Friedman of the New York Times and David Ignatius of the Washington Post. Full details (in English, French and Arabic) of the conference, organized by WAN and the newspaper An-Nahar, can be found at www.wan-press.org/beirut2006.

The first Gebran Tueni Award, which will annually honour a newspaper publisher or editor in the Arab world who demonstrates the free press values upheld by Gebran Tueni, the WAN Board member who was killed in a roadside bomb attack in December 2005, will be given at the conference. The award, which carries a 10,000 Euros stipend for newspaper leadership training, will be given to an editor or publisher of an Arabic-language publication whose activity reflects a profound attachment to the freedom and independence of the press, courage, leadership, ambition and the search for high managerial and professional standards.

WAN will also be launching the Arab Newspaper Development project at the conference. Three newspapers will shortly begin work on new business development projects, which they will share with Arab newspapers through the Arab Press Network, www.arabpressnetwork.org.

The centerpiece of WAN’s Middle East activities is the annual Middle East Publishing Conference, to be held on 17 and 18 April 2007 at the Al Murooj Rotana Hotel in Dubai.

This third annual event, organised with the Dubai Consultancy, Research and Media Centre, will be held at a time when the press is undergoing rapid change in the Middle East. New titles in the Gulf, the emerging importance of the Internet in the newspaper business model, changes in marketing and distribution and the increasing levels of press freedom are all part of what many see as ‘the newspaper revolution.’

Sessions will include:

Key Global Trends in Newspaper Publishing, which will showcase the best responses to the challenges facing newspaper publishers worldwide and in the Middle East.

Your Digital Future, which will examine new and continuously developing opportunities to retain and develop audiences and advertising revenues.

The New Print Product Explosion, which will examine the explosion in new print products and the impact this is having on new audiences and new products in print.

Circulation Science - New Trends in Circulation Sales, which will look at the ways that newspapers can most efficiently manage their subscription systems to optimise circulation and manage the cost base.

Young Readers (The WAN World Young Reader Project), which will present new ideas and techniques for delivering young readers in every market.

Marketing the Middle East Newspaper, which will provide an opportunity to learn from colleagues within the region and around the world on the specific marketing issues facing newspapers in the Middle East.

The World Editors Forum, which will examine convergence, the e-paper threat (or opportunity), ‘citizen journalism’ and newsroom best practice - all with Arab and other Middle Eastern editors in mind.

Delegate tickets are available for $900 - but an discount for early registrations of 20 percent extends through 31 January 2007.

For more information and to register for the conference, contact Asha Bhutani atbhutani@dubaiconsultancy.ae.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 73 national newspaper associations, newspapers and newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.