Asian newspaper conference cancelled

SINGAPORE: A major Asian newspaper conference scheduled for May in Bangkok has been cancelled as a result of Thailand's political turmoil, organisers said Monday.

Publish Asia 2009 will now go ahead in the Indian city of Chennai in September, said IFRA, a worldwide research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

The decision to relocate was made because of "the recent turmoil in Bangkok triggering travel restrictions there by many countries" as well as the global economic crisis.

IFRA annual meetings bring together senior editors and publishers, printing company executives and representatives of other related businesses. Newspapers worldwide have been forced to shut down, reduce their pages, slash staff salaries and make other radical changes including going web-only after advertising revenues collapsed starting in 2008. Monday, AFP