This Wednesday morning I have the honor of addressing WAN-IFRA's Newsroom Summit in Kuala Lumpur in a keynote speech on Social Media. WAN-IFRA is the newly merged entity gathering the world's publishers and editors of newspapers.

Raju Narisetti, a friend and managing editor of the Washington Post, precedes me in opening the conference, so pressure is on for me to deliver something noteworthy and relevant to the audience.

I fear they will not like much of what I will say:

1- In the two years since leaving my job as one of their globe-trotting newspaper correspondents, I have not once purchased a single copy of the International Herald Tribune. I have come to see news as something I can get for free on the Internet. Newspapers are a pleasurable thing to pick up in a coffee shop or airplane that provides them for added service.

2- In my job as Asia-Pacific director of Digital Influence 360 at Ogilvy, I spend my time speaking with companies about how they no longer need to go through media. By interacting directly with consumers they build a direct bond in a way that was not possible before the Internet. Why pay the "Publisher's Tax" in going through the media when you can own the relationship yourself?

3- The downward slide of newspapers due to the Internet got steeper due to the economic crisis, but I think it will get steeper still. The capital and maintenance costs of printing presses and distribution systems that once served as barriers to new entrants, now tie down newspapers against more nimble online competitors.

4- In the era of environmental concern, could you imagine inventing a business based on chewing up dead trees, spraying them with ink and then distributing them - on a daily basis - with a fleet of pollution spewing vehicles?

Technorati Tags: Raju, raju narisetti, wan-ifra