The Future of News- Survival Strategies & Ideas for Newsrooms

Penplusbytes a leader in New Media and Innovations is hosting for the first time in Accra - The future of News, a ground breaking event with leading thought leaders on the future of Journalism. The event will look at the trends, tools and insights transforming not only how news are produced but also consumed.
Digital publishing has compressed the timescales for journalists and newspaper production staff. The emergence of self-publishing platforms has reduced the barrier and cost of publishing to virtually nothing, thus threatening the very livelihoods of people tied to print and traditional forms of broadcasting.
The growth of easy digital publishing technology brings with it new dilemmas for journalists. Journalists now need to find ways to become news producing-broadcasting-photographic machines who have the right measure of daring, insight and technological aptitude to deliver news that is relevant.
The situation is not helped with dwindling revenue from traditional media business model, coupled with newspapers with long years of publishing dying overnight. Journalism as we know it has changed.

• What is the future of the media?
• Are Journalists relevant?
• How will the news for the future look like ?
• How do newsroom cope with impossible "always on" deadlines?
• How will news be consumed in the future?
• Are online paid content days over?
• What skills set are required to survive in the newsroom of the future?
• What Opportunities exist for merging content with new digital technologies?

This unprecedented lively conversation will provide unparalleled insights, prediction and  map out options for the news industry players and relevant stakeholders about how to strategised for the rapid changing face of news in order for news organisation to survive and grow.
The future of news event will bring the brightest brains in the world such Dan Gillmor, an internationally recognized author and leader in new media and citizen-based journalism, whose pioneering book  “We the media: The rise of citizen journalists”  according to Financial Times  has become something of a bible for those who believe the online medium will change journalism for the better. Ethan Zuckerman is world acclaimed  media scholar, blogger, and Internet activist. He is the director of the MIT Center for Civic Media, co-Founder of Global Voices and the author most recently of Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection, which won the Zócalo Book Prize;  Ing. Kenneth Ashigbey, is the Managing Director of Graphic Communications Group Ltd, Ghana’s leading media organization and Nnenna Nwakanma, a free and open source software expert and leading advocate for affordable Internet in Africa.