The annual convention of US newspaper editors has been cancelled for the first time since the second world war. "The industry is in crisis," explained Charlotte Hall, president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) and editor of the Orlando Sentinel.
"This is a uniquely stressful period in our business as we face both structural change and deep recession," she said. Editors should be spending time in their own offices doing all they can to help their publications survive.
If it had not been cancelled, it is thought that few people would have attended the Chicago convention, which was scheduled from April 26 to 29. The adverse economic conditions also prompted the Magazine Publishers of America to cancel its Boca Raton convention.
ASNE had been planning to hold a vote on changes to its by-laws at Chicago that would drop "paper" from its name and expand its membership to include the editors of online-only news websites. That will now occur, rather aptly, electronically. (Sources: ASNE/AP)
