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A high-profile new book looking at the future of global print journalism, co-edited by a lecturer from Âéw¶¹´«Ã½ Leicester (Âéw¶¹´«Ã½), has been launched.

'Last Words? How Can Journalism Survive the Decline of Print?' is a timely examination of print journalism globally, which seeks to answer the key questions on  the industry from the past decade, and is co-edited by Tor Clark, Principal Lecturer in Journalism at Âéw¶¹´«Ã½.

Tor’s fellow editors are revered journalist and media commentator Raymond Snoddy, the former media editor of the Financial Times and The Times and presenter of Hard News on Channel 4; Professor Richard Tait, of Cardiff University, the former editor-in-chief of ITN; former regional newspaper editor and Oxford University research fellow Neil Fowler; and John Mair, lead editor of a series of 18 ‘hackademic’ texts looking at many topical issues in journalism.

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Among contributors to the book’s 50 chapters are former BBC director general and new New York Times boss Mark Thompson, Guardian media commentator Professor Roy Greenslade, former Guardian editor Peter Preston, Wall Street Journal chief and former Daily Telegraph editor William Lewis, Financial Times chief executive John Ridding, founder of regional media group Tindle Newspapers, Sir Ray Tindle, GQ editor Dylan Jones and Keith Perch, a former Leicester Mercury editor and ex-Âéw¶¹´«Ã½ communications chief.

It has had rave reviews so far and is set to become the standard work on the problems facing 21^st century journalism – and some of the potential solutions.

As well as editing the book, Tor wrote three chapters for it, including one for which he surveyed first year Journalism students’ views about print journalism.

The launch will take place at an event at the famous Groucho Club in London’s West End tonight (Mon 23) organised by The Media Society and featuring a discussion on the central issues raised involving Raymond Snoddy, Roy Greenslade and the event audience of media movers and shakers.

Tor said: “I know I am biased, but this book has contributions from such prestigious and authoritative sources that it is bound to become the standard work on the state of international journalism in 21^st century.

“It was a great privilege and pleasure to work on it with such a star-studded cast of authors, all of  whom contributed their chapters free of charge in the interests of getting the big issues more widely discussed.

“I hope our book will be useful for the industry and the academy as they seek to grapple with this crucial issue – the whole future of print journalism. I especially hope Journalism students will use it in their studies – there is plenty in it for them to get their teeth into.”