Trinity Mirror's Neil Benson examines local news at 7th Forum

The folks at the UK's largest newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror have been pretty upbeat lately.

Early in August , the interim financial results for 2007 showed that profits were up, despite below-forecast income from the titles they shed. A few days later, on the back of the announcement of a spate of redesigns and relaunches , regional editorial director Neil Benson hinted that things had gone so well with the rollout of their hyperlocal news project at the Teesside Gazette (also the Press Gazette Regional News Website of Year 2007) that more reverse publishing (online-to-print) products may be in the offing.

Benson is amongst the panelists considering the global impact of the local news business at the 7th Journalism Leaders Forum on 16 October. The event is of the first of a series of activities planned to mark 45 years of journalism education at Preston, the oldest programme of its type in England.

The open event, which is the first of three planned for 2007-8, starts at 5:15pm with a networking reception in the foyer of Greenbank Building. The 90-minute Forum begins at 6pm. Please RSVP to: leaders[at]ukjournalsm[dot] org.

Afterwards, you're invited to link up for a drink at the journalism department's traditional local, the Lamb & Packet . For those who can't make it person, the Forum will again be webcast live too.