A MAJOR Asian newspaper conference scheduled for May in Bangkok has been cancelled as a result of Thailand's political turmoil, organisers said on Monday.

Publish Asia 2009 will now go ahead in the Indian city of Chennai in September, said IFRA, a worldwide research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

The decision to relocate was made because of 'the recent turmoil in Bangkok triggering travel restrictions there by many countries' as well as the global economic crisis, an IFRA statement said.

IFRA annual meetings bring together senior editors and publishers, printing company executives and representatives of other related businesses.

Newspapers worldwide have been forced to shut down, reduce their pages, slash staff salaries and make other radical changes - including going web-only - after advertising revenues collapsed starting in 2008.

The event will be held from September 23-25 in conjunction with the IFRA India annual conference and expo, earlier scheduled to be held in nearby Hyderabad.

Thomas Jacob, IFRA's managing editor for the greater Asia-Pacific region, said combining both events in Chennai 'will benefit our stakeholders, the newspapers and the suppliers active in Asia, Middle East and and Indian subcontinent'.

Separately, IFRA's first 'Newsroom Summit Asia' which will discuss editorial and other issues confronting the industry will be held in Kuala Lumpur from July 7-9, IFRA executives told AFP.

The meeting in the Malaysian capital will discuss issues like multi-platform workflow and integration, improving efficiency to reduce costs, and new technologies for tomorrow's readers, they said. -- AFP