The news industry’s future will come under discussion when the WSJ’s Raju Narisetti, analyst Ken Doctor and others get together at Newsplex in the USA next month for a two-hour webinar.

The free online event on Wednesday January 16 (early Thursday morning Asia-Pacific time zones) is hosted by the World Editors Forum, America’s Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and the University of South Carolina college of mass communications and information studies.

The webinar will begin at 2 pm (Eastern Standard Time in the USA, 9 am GMT).

Organisers say the first hour will focus on the lessons learned during the media transformation which has occurred in the ten years since WAN-Ifra opened its prototype Newsplex ‘newsroom of the future’ and training facility at USC. The second hour will focus on the future of news publishing and innovations in newsrooms.

Other participants will include WEF executive director Cherilyn Ireton; Western Kentucky University Professor Kerry Northrup, who conceived Newsplex; Saf Fahim, the architect who designed Newsplex; former BBC training executive Jonathan Halls, who now provides leadership workshops for media organisations; as well as working journalists from around the world who trained in Newsplex. 

Present in Newsplex will be Charles Bierbauer, the dean of the USC’s college of mass communications and information studies; USC journalism faculty and students; as well members of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. 

“The programme will feature an extraordinary lineup of analysts to discuss trends, and be presented in a digital format that will make it possible for media professionals to participate without leaving their offices,” says SNPA executive director Edward Van Horn.

Cherilyn Ireton says the Newsplex brand is synonymous with newsroom change and innovation around the world. “With the recent opening of Newsplex facilities in France and Singapore, it is appropriate to step back to see how far we have come and to look forward to see what is in front of us.”

The webinar will be accessible via the Newsplex website.  Using Spreecast technology, webinar viewers will be able to text their comments and questions throughout the event.  Afterward, excerpts from the webinar will accessible through the Newsplex website.

“A lot has happened in ten years, so we are going to have a lot to talk about,” says Newsplex director Randy Covington.

Newsplex’s current physical facility will close in February, but he says, “we aren’t going away.”

The same training and services will be offered, and when construction of our new school of journalism is finished, there will be a new newsroom of the future. “In the interim, we will live in the virtual world, just like so many in new media,” he says.