Off to New Zealand to discuss the future

I'm off to New Zealand today to speak at a conference entitled Downunder: the future of the media in the digital age. It's organised by the Journalism Education Association of New Zealand with the support of Auckland University of Technology's School of Communication Studies.

Here's an extract from my keynote address:

"The key issue for all of us - citizen and journalist, politician and academic, young and old - is not so much the future of newspapers as the future of journalism. We must not allow ourselves to be blinded by technology and the variety of delivery platforms from the continuing need to carry out our essential task: holding the people in power to account. We must engage with the enhanced democracy of the digital age to ensure that the journalism of 2050 is more vibrant, more penetrating, more questioning and, ultimately, more beneficial for the citizens of the world than it is today."

So you can see what I'm up to. Anyway, my trip means that I'll be silent for a day or so until I reach Auckland. I'm also due to speak to the Foreign Correspondents Club, visit several newspapers and broadcasters - including a Maori TV station - and I hope to spend a day or so in Wellington. But I will, of course, be keeping an eye on the global media world as well, so I'll be blogging from New Zealand later this week. Au revoir.