The annual Sun Valley conference kicks off on July 7th and high on the agenda is “How to survive the global recession and shrinking advertising sales.

Regular attendees include Rupert Murdoch, Sumner Redstone and Barry Diller. Rumoured to be joining them this year are Mark Zuckerberg, the 25-year-old chief of Facebook, Twitter Chairman Evan Williams, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Dell Inc chief Michael Dell.

“People in the traditional media world are terrified,” said Ken Auletta, a New Yorker magazine media writer and author of several books about the media industry, who will chair a panel on new media at this week’s conference.

“They’re in the analog world, and the world is becoming digital,” he said. “They’re insecure about what’s going to happen to their businesses.”

There is much speculation over the fates of several struggling companies, and deals may be done that see the landscape of old and new media change dramatically over the next 12 months.

Some Internet companies have pockets full of cash for a buying spree. Traditional media companies are looking at deals with rivals to combine manufacturing and distribution operations to cut costs.

It’s fair to say the media world is living in interesting times.