Bangkok's resilience and optimism were on show today as it welcomed the world's press to a venue rocked by arsonists just thee years before.

 

Repercussions are continuing from the May 19 incident in which political protesters set fire to a department store in the Centralworld shopping complex in which the World Newspaper Congress is being held, with police saying there are 31 more suspects they want to talk to.

It would not be true to say that all that has been forgotten as more than 1500 delegates - 330 of the from a single publisher - gathers on the 22nd floor. But this is always-smiling Bangkok, the 'city of angels' in the 'land of smiles'.

A more poignant theme at the opening was that of press freedom in Myanmar, where "a dictatorship is turning into a democracy".

Having only last weekend presented the Golden Pen of Freedom awarded to two Myanmar journalists 13 years before, the achievements of one of the country's publishers, Dr Than Htut Aung of Eleven Media, was recognised with this year's top prize.

Somehow, after the congress's emotional and dramatic opening - which included a dramatic shadow play on the theses - nothing else seemed to matter as much: "We are still living under fear and pressure, but the Golden Pen means we are not working alone," Dr Than said.

The conference was opened this morning by deputy prime minister and finance minister Kittirat Na Ranong, and a late addition to the programme has been an address tomorrow by prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the young woman charged with resolving the country's traumas. And in conference photographs, she has optimism written all over her smiling countenance.

There's some of that confidence among delegates as well. Especially as Asia is where the newspaper industry comes to feel good about itself; where print circulations are rising rather than falling, and advertising revenue reflects buoyant economies... Not to mention the huge growth to the north in China.

WAN-Ifra chief executive Vincent Peyrègne emphasised that with the organisation's annual update on worldwide press trends varies from country to country, but a standout is Indonesia, where circulation is growing and advertising rocketing.

That message was echoed in a discussion with contributions from publishers in Singapore, Germany, Kenya, Russia and the UAE.

As in Asia, global fortunes. vary, but as Singapore Press Holdings' English and Malay editor-in-chief Patrick Daniel (pictured) put it, "we've looked, but we've found it hard to find a business as profitable as newspapers."

Print publishing apart - and the local Post Newspapers group has launched two new print titles in not many more years - there's a realisation that more people are turning to online media. A cartoon in the Bangkok Post as I flew in yesterday had cobwebs growing over library shelves while a young Thai read on his iPad.

The WNC readied delegates from all parts of the world today with an opening keynote from community publishing president Rob Dickey of USA Today publisher Gannett. The company's 2012 initiative saw 'all access' subscriptions - set to contribute $100 million to next year's profits - a national news desk and 'zone stop' advertising sales desks. "People value the information, not the way we deliver it," he says.