The Future of News--debated by ad guys (er, where were the newsies?)

The good news on news: somebody was discussing its future.
The bad news on news: there was no newsperson on the dais.
Sounds funny?
Here is the release. If you see it carefully, it is full of ad-biz folks. Nothing wrong with that. But surely, one would expect a hands-on news person to have a thing or two to say there.
Reminds me of the famous Sherlock Holmes story-- where the clue was in the dog that did not bark.
The invitation sent to me earlier mentioned editors among panelists, but apparently they were too busy making or breaking news elsewhere to turn up here.

Here is the news--oops, the release.

New Delhi, August 1, 2008 – afaqs!, India’s leading advertising, media and marketing website, hosted a conference on “The Future of News”. Speakers discussed and debated the prospects of both the content as well as the business of news in New Delhi on August 1, 2008.

The event has come at a time when the very definition of news is changing as is the way in which it is delivered. Unusually, the conference discussed the morphing nature of news across media: be it print, TV, online or mobile.

Among the topics discussed by well known media professionals and marketers were the abundance of news, the localisation of content and whether it translates into revenue, why investors are funding news, an inquiry into revenue streams beyond advertising, a look at how digital content can pay for itself, and whether the tabloidisation of news is affecting the way advertisers view the news genre.

Sreekant Khandekar, Director, afaqs!, said “The consensus of the speakers of the conference seem to be that we will be flooded with even more news brands in all media. We haven’t seen anything. There will be need for many different types of news and many different brands will be born to service those needs.”
Eminent personalities like Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder and chairman, Rediff.com; Lakshmikant Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, LG Electronics; Punitha Arumugam, Chief Executive Officer, Madison India; Ravi Kiran, Chief Executive Officer, Starcom; Santosh Desai, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Future Brands; Shashi Sinha, Chief Executive Ofiicer, Lodestar Universal; Rajesh Jain, Managing Director, Netcore Solutions; Salil Pitale, Head – Media & Telecom, Enam Investment Banking; Shubhodip Pal, Head Marketing, Consumer - Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard addressed the conference.