Amazon at the International Journalism Festival: the key events

Authors and readers at the center

Amazon at the International Journalism Festival:
the key events

Amazon takes part in the eight edition of the International Journalism Festival of Perugia and will be the feature of two events:
Beppe Severgnini’s interview with Diego Piacentini, Senior Vice President International;
the chat between Luca Conti and Russ Grandinetti, Vice President Kindle Content, on self-publishing.

Both encounters will be based on the primary and essential importance of readers in the upcoming metamorphosis of journalism.

The slogan of the 2014 edition of the Journalism Festival is "’Stay Fast, Stay Fit:’ speed is overwhelming us but keeping fit will make us win the challenge.” This is what the organizers of the Festival assure us of, as they answer this challenge with 50 workshops, 200 events, more than 500 guests, all with free admission.

Here at the links to the two events from the Festival’s program:
http://www.journalismfestival.com/programme/2014/dove-porta-la-corrente-di-amazon-conversazione-insolita-e-fluviale-con-diego-piacentini
http://www.journalismfestival.com/programme/2014/new-inventions-for-media-a-conversation-with-russ-grandinetti

Perugia, May 2^nd 2014 – The rise of readers and journalism in the era of open web is the main topic of the eighth edition of the International Journalism Festival and Amazon, the main sponsor of the Festival, will come to terms with them during two events involving the participation of Diego Piacentini, Senior Vice President International at Amazon.com and Russ Grandinetti, Vice President Kindle Content.

Diego Piacentini will be the feature of a lively chat with Corriere Della Sera journalist Beppe Severgnini on Friday, May 2^nd between 6:30 and 7:30 PM in the Notary meeting room.
The meeting, which is titled Where Is Amazon’s Current Taking Us? An Unusual and Flowing Conversation with Diego Piacentini, Senior Vice President at Amazon, will respond freely to the reporter’s questions. The first double interview that Beppe Severgnini conducted with Jeff Bezos and Diego Piacentini himself way back in 2000, shortly after Piacentini’s arrival at Amazon, remains memorable.

The hilarious interview is still available at this link, with its memorable ending:

“SEVERGNINI Mr. Bezos, why did you bring an Italian here?

BEZOS Diego is my first attempt at placing a non-American in the top team. Even though his area of responsibility is international expansion, this is just a small part of the job.

PIACENTINI Jeff, this is news.

BEZOS I was going to have to tell you, sooner or later. Agh-agh-agh-agh!!! AAAAAGGH!!!!”

After 14 years, we find them together again, without Jeff, but with the same freedom and freshness, during a meeting that is as “unusual and flowing” as Amazon’s current – the current of a river flowing with its usual power and with a consistency that is almost more impressive than its speed.

Saturday may 3^rd digital reading and its potential for journalists and readers will be the focus of the meeting Innovative Tools for the Media: a Conversation with Russ Grandinetti, which will be held from 12:00 to 1:00 PM in the Raffaello meeting room at the Brufani Hotel.
During the meeting, Russ Grandinetti, Vice President Kindle Content, will talk with Luca Conti, Head of international development at Simplicissimus Book Farm, to bring into focus the new scenarios that phenomena such as social reading and self-publishing are opening for the media industry.
In a context where information and knowledge (newspapers, books) change from one day to the next from a fixed format into free-flowing contents, Amazon hopes to make a significant contribution to supporting and spreading the culture of participation and the opportunities that exist today for those who create contents, be they journalists or authors.

Amazon stands out, in fact, for its focus on customers - 200 million throughout the world - an approach characterized by a habit of listening to and adopting the suggestions of readers and by a focus on the world of authors led by the opportunities offered by its self-publishing platform. At the same time Amazon intends to support the field of journalism, seeking ideas for new forms and new business models, such as Kindle Singles, that are able to ensure a sustainable and high-quality journalism.

For additional information please contact:

Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo www.journalismfestival.com @journalismfest

Amazon Press Office press@amazon.it +39 02 36792144

Mirandola Comunicazione amazon@mirandola.net +39 0524 574708

Caricato il 02/05/2014