WAN-Ifra is back in Singapore for Digital Media Asia after six years to a much-changed market environment: "We've gone from readers searching for news to a situation in which news is searching for readers," WAN-Ifra deputy chief executive Thomas Jacob remarked.
That quest has brought 280 delegates from 30 countries to hear 37 speakers and take part in a range of activities which includes a weekend hack event, master classes, breakouts and a breakfast session.
Asia director Gilles Demptos stressed the importance of the numbers and thanked technology providers and sponsors for their contribution: "Newspapers can't innovate by themselves," he said.
With "monetisation in everyone's thoughts", Demptos' theme was pursued by new WAN-Ifra recruit Ben Shaw - formerly chief technology officer of US Midwest group Shaw Media - who has joined as senior digital consultant. Presenting some of the statistics of an industry sector in which, "for every $1 gained in digital, $7 is being lost in print", Shaw urged delegates to temper their pleasure with digital revenue growth by putting it in the perspective of newspapers' smaller (and diminishing) market share.
At least change was coming to an Asian media market which "has the opportunity to respond while still well capitalised," he observed.
But there were some who had changed years back, like Norway's 120-year-old Dagbladet, from which Hildegunn Soldal said 20 years' online experience "wasn't always an advantage when you're trying to move quickly," and questioned the ongoing value of the integrated newsroom.
At the opening, Thomas Jacob paid tribute to Stig Nordqvist, who died last month of lung cancer aged 50. A passionate follower of digital media developments, he had become the organisation's digital technology expert after joining the group in 2002: "The industry has lost a visionary and a guru," he said.
Right: An opportunity to change - Ben Shaw
On our homepage: Dagbladet digital editor Hildegunn Soldal - doubts about the integrated newsroom
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