Capital to play host to Future of News, 2009 on July 31

An afaqs! event, Future of News is in its second year and will see key media personalities focusing on the news business, encompassing content and monies involved

The focus once again will be on the news business, with the second edition of The Future of News Conference scheduled to take place at The Oberoi, New Delhi on July 31.

The forum will see senior industry and media professionals coming together to debate key content and business related issues. Four sessions through the day will see media experts and other stakeholders debate subjects such as 'The changing face of news - What should the traditional media do?'; 'Well sold or well thought through?'; 'Why do advertisers like TV news?'; 'Business news - Balancing the interests of stakeholders?'; 'Was there a theft in my locality?'; and 'As the world gets smaller, are viewers getting obsessed with local news?'.

Adding weight to the proceedings will be discussions on the challenge of producing credible business news as the segment expands furiously on the back of economic growth, as well as the somewhat philosophical issue of the paradox of local news becoming more relevant, even as the world and markets globalise and integrate.

Capital to play host to Future of News, 2009 on July 31

The conference will begin with a key note address delivered by Mohan Jatua, minister of state for information and broadcasting, Government of India. The speaker lineup for the day is an impressive one, including industry heavyweights such as Sam Balsara, chairperson and managing director, Madison; Chintamani Rao, chief executive officer, Times Global Broadcasting; Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, MCCS; Raj Nayak, CEO, NDTV Media; Ravi Kiran, CEO, South Asia, Starcom MediaVest; Partha Sinha, managing partner, BBH India, Ashish Bhasin, chairman, India and chief executive officer, South East Asia, Aegis Group, John Dayal, political columnist, Neha Lidder, senior marketing manager, Virgin Atlantic India, S. N. Bhaduri, country manager, Consumer Media India, Thomson Reuters, Manisha Natarajan, editor – Special Programs, NDTV, Sudheendra Kulkarni, writer and columnist, V. S. Mani, senior Vice-President and general manager, Lintas Media Group, Deepak Mukarji, country head, corporate affairs, Shell Group, Joy Bhattacharya, Director, Kolkata Knight Rider, Ramesh Natarajan, deputy country manager - South Asia, DHL, Rohtash Mal, executive director and chief executive officer, Escorts Agriculture Machinery Group, Subhomoy Bhattacharjee, deputy executive editor, Financial Express, Suprio Guha Thakurta, managing director, The Economist Group, India and Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, media Consultant and author.

With the expert panellists taking news business issues head-on, the audience will have much to look forward to, besides the cocktails, dinner and networking.

The conference will begin at 3:15 pm. In between the discussions, the winners of the STAR News quiz will be announced by STAR and the winners can look forward to interesting prizes.

The event also promises a lot of action. The panel discussions will turn out to be more engaging, with the results of a special 'News Reality Check' survey conducted among afaqs! visitors being shared with the audience. Session moderators, who will have access to the survey result in advance, will have some interesting revelations to share with the gathering about people's notions about the news industry.

Powered by Mint and with Hindustan Times as the Knowledge Partner, Future of News 2009 will be a high quality, lavish event. The conference is posed to live up to its catchline, 'The learnings of a lifetime in one evening'.

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