He presented a case study focused on Clarin's portfolio strategy of new products, and on its successful efforts to defend its classified advertising from Google and other pure players as classified migrate from print to the web.

Niche products range from an architectural digest to a magazine for small businesses to supplements and other materials aimed at children and families. Other successful launches include a sports fantasy game that had lost money in print but generated 4 million dollars in revenue and 1,500 players when it migrated to the web.

In moving classified from print to the web – the current ratio at Clarin is 15 percent digital and 85 percent in print – the company considers its on-line classified sites more as social networks than as classified advertising. The approach has won 66 percent of the jobs and real estate ad market online – Google has 10 percent – and almost 50 percent of the car market.

But it's not just about launching new products and protecting classified. "All this depends on the challenges of improving the quality of our newspapers, not only for the readers, which is our priority, but also on the challenges of investing less and maintaining quality," says Mr Roa.

But the challenges facing newspapers does not only come from business pressures,  Mr Roa says.

"The challenges, as well as threats we're facing today – and not only in Argentina – is not only from the digital impact on print, but the political threats as well, because of the decisions that governments impose as they tries to weaken journalists and newspapers," he says. "This is familiar to many of you."