World Newspaper Congress, Editors Forum Cancelled

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"It was simply impossible to go ahead without the commitment of our Lebanese colleagues, who were responsible for security and other significant infrastructural and service expenses," WAN-IFRA President Gavin O'Reilly said in a statement this morning. "We deeply regret that we cannot bring these events to Lebanon."

The local host newspaper An-Nahar just informed WAN-IFRA that it was unable to meet its obligations in the aftermath of the 2009 financial and political crisis in the region. WAN-IFRA estimated the cost of the venue, security and other local expenses to be more than $2 million, which it said could not be covered by registration fees alone.

The World Editors Forum has been rescheduled for Oct. 6-8, to be held in conjunction with the IFRA Expo in Hamburg, Germany, Oct. 4-6. Both Congress and Editors Forum delegates will be invited to attend the rescheduled event, which will feature key elements scheduled for Beirut, including the Golden Pen of Freedom presentation, World Press Trends update, and other presentations. Details are at www.wefhamburg2010.com.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris and Darmstadt, Germany, said it does plan to hold World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo next year.  In the meantime, those who planned to attend the Beirut events are invited to attend other WAN-IFRA events in 2010 dedicated to issues that were on the Congress program (www.wan-ifra.org/events for details).