MIAMI, Florida (March 9, 2009)—The battle for new online audiences in a crammed universe of Web sites will be the topic to open a packed program of seminars and panel discussions during the Midyear Meeting of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) to be held March 13-16 at the Hotel Yacht y Golf in Asunción, Paraguay.
Attending the event, to be formally opened by Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and IAPA president, Enrique Santos Calderón, editor of the Bogotá, Colombia, newspaper El Tiempo, will be some 250 newspaper editors and publishers from throughout the Americas.
In addition to discussion of the IAPA’s internal affairs other issues of professional interest will be raised during the meeting. These include the increase in video, change in relationship with the audiences, the rapid growth of social networks and community Web sites, personalization of news, and current trends in news sites will be the topic to be discussed by Argentine expert Marcelo Franco of the Buenos Aires-based Clarín Global.
Another hot topical issue to be put before the IAPA delegates is that related to: “how to increase and profit from Internet traffic in newspapers,” with the participation of Google executive Germán Rinaldi, who will speak about Google tools and the reasons to rethink the online newspaper, with ideas on how to align the business strategy between the traditional printed newspaper with the online one.
Another seminar will refer to today’s informational Web sites and the situation of print media in relation to the growth of content and variety on the Internet. Expert Ariel Tiferes, of the Buenos Aires, Argentina, newspaper La Nación, will focus on the most recent trends in online journalism and the experience of LaNacion.com in developing new digital products.
More information on these and other activities of the IAPA and its Press Institute is posted on the Web sites www.sipiapa.org and www.institutodeprensa.com.