Pak’s Najam Sethi wins Golden Pen

Hyderabad, Nov. 29: Leading publishers and editors from around the world will be in the city for four days to attend the first annual event of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (the merged WAN-IFRA). This prestigious media event is being held in South Asia for the first time.

The event includes the 62nd World Newspaper Congress and the 16th World Editors’ Forum. There will also be the Info Services Expo-2009.

About 900 participants from 87 countries are expected at the event.

The meetings will deliberate a wide range of issues confronting the print media including curbs on media coverage of sports events, challenges posed by the worldwide web and the future of journalism.

The theme of the World Newspaper Congress this year is “Newspapers: A Multi-media Growth Business” while the World Editors’ Forum will focus on “Finding New Business Models for Newspapers.”

The President, Mrs Pratibha Patil, will inaugurate the programme on December 1 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre.

The president of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, Mr Gavin O’Reilly, and the president of the Indian Newspaper Society, Mr T. Venkattram Reddy, will participate in the inaugural function.

The event gains significance in view of the fact that India now ranks internationally as the second largest press market, after China, with almost 99 million copies sold daily.

Meanwhile, senior Pakistani journalist, Mr Najam Sethi, who edits The Friday Times and Daily Times, will receive the Golden Pen of Freedom award, the annual WAN-IFRA Press freedom prize.