Paris, 13 June 2002 For immediate release The State of Online Media in Europe The development of online media in Europe will be examined by leading media experts next week at a "Multimedia in a Digital Age" seminar at the European Parliament in Brussels. The two-day seminar, on 17 and18 June, will bring together dozens of experts working under the Multimedia in a Digital Age (MUDIA) project, a European Union initiative designed to promote the development of electronic media in Europe. The World Association of Newspapers and NewsWorld International, two of the partners in the project, will present the results of a survey of 26 print-, broadcast- and internet-newsrooms and how they are managing their multimedia convergence. The presentation, by Mogens Schmidt of WAN and Tim Orchard of NewsWorld International, will include recommendations for future convergence action. Other presentations include: --Five scenarios for the future of online media, by Yves Punie of IPTS, the European Union's research unit on the information society based in Seville, Spain. Mr Punie found that predictions that the internet would favour the emergence of new information providers have proven to be overly optimistic. --An examination of the changing relationship between users and online news services, by Gary Quinn and Brian Trench of Dublin City University. --A study of mobile news services and how they have been largely disappointing, by Jamal Shahin, Georgios Terzis and Ari Heinonen of Infonomics, the Maastricht-based research institute that is co-ordinating the MUDIA project. The study looks at developments in mobile technology and how these have been applied to news dissemination. The conference, organised by Infonomics and European Consortium for Communications Research, will also present case studies and panel discussions of new media developments and the "digital divide" in the European Union between policy makers and users and media businesses. For more information or to register for the conference (there is no registration fee), consult the MUDIA web site, www.mudia.org, or contact Georgios Terzis of Infonomics, george@eccg.be. The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 71 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 100 countries, 13 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups. Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 25 rue d'Astorg, 75008 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr --- Larry Kilman Director of Communications World Association of Newspapers 25, rue d'Astorg 75008 Paris France Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00 Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48 E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr Visit our web site at http://www.wan-press.org