Although advertisers turned down tap on marketing amid the economic downturn, Hong Kong-based television broadcaster Pheonix added a workstation in the financial hub of Frankfurt after the outbreak of the crisis.

"It is a big spending for a small commercial TV network. But we find it worthwhile since it helps make well-rounded and solid reporting," said Liu Changle, Pheonix's Chairman.

We spent more money to send our staff to more places to make field reporting. That made coverage on the crisis more complete, said Stephen J. Marcopoto, president of Turner International Asia Pacific Limited, the broadcasting division of Time Warner which owned the CNN.

"When our news professionals are not able to report objectively on the scene, then second-hand information, unverifiable reports, speculation, rumors will rapidly spread across Internet and phone lines. They, and not the facts, will take over and become 'the story'," he said at the World Media Summit which concluded Saturday.

"It is interesting for a website operator, which traditionally carries news and reports of other media, to send its own reporters to the crisis-hit places like New York City and London, to acquire more information and file independent reports," said Sina.com CEO Cao Guowei at a panel discussion during the summit.

Financial crisis dealt a heavy blow to the media industry, particularly on the print media. Advertising revenues fell about 30 percent for American newspapers in the first quarter from a year ago, and 9.7 percent in Japan in the first half.

"The financial crisis taught us a lesson that we should be more clients-oriented to adapt to the changing market," said Li Ruigang, president of the Shanghai Media Group (SMG).

He noted when ad sales of his company slid 12.5 percent as a whole in the first three months, revenue from indigenous brands jumped 15 percent.

Phoenix also eyed ad clients related to the government's 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package, since they had "strong marketing desire and were well-financed", said Liu Changle.

Media companies are also seeking to cultivate new growth point in an era of new media which features the Internet, blog, and streamed video.

For the New York Times, newspaper was no longer its major sources of income, said Leonard Michael Apcar, senior editor of the newspaper.

Many media companies have witnessed signs of recovery.

Ad sales of Australia's largest TV channel Seven Network had bounced back to its year earlier level, said its chairman Kerry Stokes.

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