Eenadu, headquartered in Hyderabad, is expanding across the country, on all media platforms. How the Telugu-language paper (the title means "Today") grew from a fledgling print company to a media conglomerate with print, television, internet and other media will be the subject of a presentation by I. Venkat, Director of the Group.

Newspaper companies are well-placed for multi-media growth, says Mr Venkat. "We have the infrastructure, we know the markets, we have some understanding of consumer preferences., and we have experience of running the business. So why not take advantage of the situation and try and get ahead?"

The Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2008 are expected to draw well over 1,500 newspaper publishers, managing directors, CEOs, chief editors and other senior newspaper executives to Sweden at a time when the newspaper industry is focused more than ever on multimedia expansion.

Full details of the events, the global meetings of the world’s press organised by the World Association of Newspapers, can be found at www.wansweden2008.com.

The theme of the Congress reflects the changing nature of the industry - "Newspapers: A Multi-Media Growth Business." Print publications remain the core activity of press companies, generating most of their profits and providing resilient to increasing competition from other information channels. At the same time, digital media are allowing newspapers to significantly extend their audience and revenues.

How best to exploit the multi-media opportunities now open to newspapers will be at the heart of the programme.

In addition to Mr Venkat, confirmed speakers for the Congress include: Joe Webb, Deputy Managing Director of the Irish Independent; Tim Bowdler, Chief Executive of Johnston Press in the United Kingdom; Giorgio Valerio, General Manager of RCS Quotidiani in Italy; Christian Van Thillo, Chairman of De Persgroep in Belgium; Francis Morel, Director General, and Pierre Conge, Deputy Director General in charge of New Media, of Le Figaro in France; and Tony Watson, Editor-in-Chief of The Press Association in the United Kingdom.

The Congress business sessions will focus on the following themes:

  What are the best strategies for growing audience, in print and online?

  What are the best strategies for increasing both print and digital advertising - and what growth can be expected? What management, infrastructure and processes are necessary to sell advertising for a portfolio of products, as opposed to a single newspaper title?

  How can the new reach attained by newspapers through their combined print & digital operations be monetized? Many newspapers dominate their print and digital markets - how can they turn this into better profit?

  Newspapers are the Content Kings! How can the unique content gathered by newspapers, which have the strongest journalistic teams in any media, be exploited through the full range of new distribution channels? And, vitally, what can be sold and what has to be free?

  Can and should newspaper brands be integrated in the digital world or should we expect disaggregation?

  What changes are underway to better measure combined print and digital reach? What is audience aggregation and how does a newspaper build its product portfolio?

  What are some of the winning new products and acquisitions that successful newspapers have added in recent times?

  The search engines: friend or foe? Is the continued growth and diversification of the big search companies an opportunity for newspapers, through partnerships for example, or a long-term threat to their revenues?
  and much more!

For evolving details of all the events, go to www.wansweden2008.com.

Sponsors for the events now include Volvo, Holmen Paper, SAS, Bonnier, and the Stampen Group.

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.

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.