Journalist, publisher and pundit Andrew Neil last night launched the Society of Editors' annual conference with a controversial lecture tackling all forms of media.

He looked into the future of newspapers, and the way journalists will operate in the future.

He also spoke about the threat from Google making money from taking newspaper content for free.

He told a 200-strong audience in Glasgow: "It's time for a new mindset, one which does not see the Internet and new technologies as a threat.

"Newspapers must be 24-hour news machines."

He said that times were also changing for writers, with journalists of the future aggregating their work and people paying the highest fees for exclusive work from the very best.

He said: "Journalists will no longer get their income from one source.

"There's never been a better time to a journalist.

"There's never been a better time to get your journalism out to more people, never a better time to get it out to the world."

But he added success would require a new breed of journalist – one that no longer worked in one medium but with words, pictures, and moving pictures.

Readership would also need to be aggregated across a range of platforms with success of newspapers no longer measured by sales from news stands.

He said: "People ask me if people will be buying newspapers in 20 years time. They will, but I don't know how many.

"I am not that bothered how people get their news – distribution is only a commodity – what matters is the content and the distribution platform."