'Exploiting Innovation and Seizing
Opportunities : The keys to Success'
- World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum due in Seoul in May

About 1,500 publishers, editors and journalists around the world will get together in Seoul in May to attend the 58th World Newspaper Congress and the 12th World Editors Forum.
The participating prominent figures will include Arthir O. Sulzberger, chairman of the New York Times Company, Michael Golden, publisher of International Herald Tribune, Shinichi Hakoshima, president of the Aashi Shimbun, Fred Hilmer, CEO of John Fairfax Holdings, Australia, and Sandy Romaldez, president of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines, said Park Su-man, secretary general of the Korean Newspapers Association (KNA).
Under the theme of "Exploiting Innovation and Seizing Opportunities: The keys to Success," the 58th World Newspaper Congress, to be held at the COEX in southeastern Seoul for a four-day run from May 29 through June 1, is a gathering designed to improve management of the global newspaper industry facing with many hardships, Lim Cheol-soo, manager of the Planning Department at KNA, said. Publishers, editors-in-chiefs, editors and journalists and members of press-related bodies around the globe will discuss ways of exploring success strategies of constant innovation and willingness to seizing and implement a wide range of new opportunities, he said.
New newspapers are emerging, with new formats, new pricing models, new readers and new markets, and Korea, one of the most wired nations on earth, is likely to provide the perfect setting to explore and debate the ongoing integration of traditional publishing and digital information distribution which is driving and changing the news business today, organizers said.
The Word Newspaper Congress is an annual gathering, dubbed "The United Nations Congress of the Press," being organized by the Word Association of Newspapers (WAN). WAN is one of the world's largest newspaper organizations with about 18,000 member newspapers from 100 countries.
The 58th World Newspaper Congress will coincide with the 12th World Editors Forum, which will open on the same venue under the theme of "Your Readers Are Changing? Change Your Newspapers." The forum will explore new strategies for changes in the newspaper industry environment, brought on by the Internet, organizers said.
President Roh Moo-hyun is likely to deliver a speech during a ceremony for opening the Word Newspaper Congress and the World Editors Forum at 10 a.m. on May 30. Minister of Information and Communication Chin Dae-je will speak during the third session of the World Newspaper Congress: Beyond Print-The Next Generation of Media. Other speaks of the session will be Fred Hilmer , CEO of John Fairfax Holdings, Australia, Shinichi Hakoshima, president of the Asahi Shimbun, Japan and Sandy Romualdez, president of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines.
During the WAN and WEF gatherings, there will be also Info Services Expo and World Press Photo Exhibition. About 50 newspapers, news agencies and related businesses are expected to participate in Info Services Expo. World Press Photo Exhibition, one of the most prestigious photo exhibitions along with the Pulitzer Prizes Photo Exhibition, will be held for the first time during the upcoming congress and forum. World Press Photo Exhibition is an annual exhibition of journalism photos selected through the strict screening process being held in about 80 cities in 40 countries and attracting an estimated 10 million spectators. nw