While the developed world's newspaper industry has suffered on the back of the global recession and consequential advertising decline, the developing world has continued to support newspapers as literacy levels rise and access to technology remains limited, the Daily Dispatch Online reported today.

Addressing a 50 person audience Sunday, on World Press Freedom Day in Grahamstown, South Africa, Print Media South Africa Chairman Prakash Desai expressed his confidence in the ongoing importance and relevance of newspapers, predicting any major effects from the growth of online media will not occur in the near future. He said this was especially true for developing countries.

Of a population of 48 million, only three million South Africans have access to new technology and the Internet. Desai emphasised this was the situation of billions of others living in developing countries around the world.

"The quality of print journalism is far superior to any blog, Web or TV journalism. They do not match the print contribution ... this will ensure they (print) are here for eternity," he told more than 50 people at the Albany Museum, the Daily Dispatch reported.

Desai blamed issues of "bad debt" for the current financial woes western newspapers are suffering.

World Association of Newspapers Deputy Director of Press Freedom and Development Programmes Mirjana Milosevic cited research that revealed exclusively online newspapers had failed, and dual models were much more successful: "They had a 75 percent decrease in revenue and lost 50 percent of their readers."

Milosevic cited public faith in the credibility of the newspapers as the basis for their survival, provided they created a model that adopted a complementary existence with online news.

U.S. media consultant Vin Crosby saw the challenge for newspaper was to retain community relevance within the online environment, the Daily Dispatch reported.

For newspapers to succeed, they must "hold communities together when people have access to 250 million Web sites," he said.