According to the speakers, regional newsmedia companies should focus on:

1. Local marketplace. The readers have the same needs today as before. What has changed since then was brought by the rise of Internet.

One of the examples given was the city in Poland – Koszalin. The publisher, Media Regionalne, still publishes there a traditional printed daily, and a free weekly. Rest of the products are online, reaching 8,32 million unique users today (rise from 1 million uu in January 2007)

2. Newsroom concept. This should always be analysed in terms of transformation. The marks of a transformed newspaper are:

• websites that are not being republished printed content but they should have new and more content
• websites that are offering content in new formats
• cross promotion and cross reference between newspaper and website
• users who want to participate and contribute own content : text, photos, videos
• editors and sales peoplewho work together

Media Regionalne has changed its newsroom model totally. There are new roles in the newsroom: radar (checking what’s going on – competition, institutions etc.), community manager, marketing representative, media conductor, print publisher, online publisher, multimedia grapic, photo-video editor – they all are connectors. Second group of people creating the newsrooms are the collectors: Citizen journalists, multimedia reporters, photo video reporters, citizen photographers, bloggers, database providers, local govt, companies, users, institutions, ngo’s freelancers, and readers.

3. Newsroom in action

85% of all journalists from Media Regionalne work for two platforms in terms of writing. 30% are work with videos. This was a giant step. All of these changes are a process that was started in 2007 and is still developing.
The path of the news is simple. The first online version of news is a two sentences one – answering the basic questions: what, where and when. This should be produced within 5 minutes from any incident. Secod online version brings more facts – several sources that are checked, plus some quotations, maybe gallery. The third online version is the basic of the print material – it is a developed story with checked facts and videos.

4. Recruitment.

Young people are recruited by Media Regionalne through web 2.0 tools. What is important is the constant transfer of knowledge and competences. Integration process in some of the Media Regionalne’s newsrooms required:

• Reset of positions, creation of new functions.
• 30% reduction of teams
• Work system developed by working team
• Newsroom guide for the editorial team
• profiles of users and readers.

5. An open newsroom
Doors of a newsroom should be opened for users and readers – it is a great opportunity to exchange opinions and ideas. Media Regionalne are encouraging the readers to interview different people together with the newsroom. The newsroom is as close to the users as it can be, using social tools like facebook, twitter etc. But web is not enough, there are also real life events like poker tournaments, common bicycle trips, and walkarounds.

At the end of their presentation, Artur Karda and Tomasz Krawczyk gave 10 tips and tricks for the news publishers:

1. At least 50% of the time in managers’ meetings should be dedicated to online
2. Editors in chiefs should have no offices – they should sit in newsrooms, by the local desks
3. Experienced journalists should be transformed as they are the motor force of the changes
4. Fresh minded young journalists should be involved into newsrooms operations
5. Groups of local trainers should be building central training programmes
6. Every employee should have a goal for every year
7. News publishers should develop a central digital team and local market teams
8. Detailed profiles of all the products should be determined
9. Constant monitoring developments of any processes are very important
10. Every year an internal journalist competition should be announced

The process of integration is not about changing chairs, but about changing mentality and changing the mind. Only in that way the change will be real.

In a personal message to the European Conference of INMA and OPA Europe starting this week in Krakow (29 September to 1 October 2010), the President sends his best wishes for a successful debates.

“Under the heading Transformation, inspiration, innovation, you will analyze your industry’s transition from single medium to multi-media and the implications of this for your marketing, circulation, revenues, and means of gathering, writing and editing”, writes Herman Van Rompuy.

He adds: “It is also fitting that this conference takes place in the historic city of Krakow, one of the greatest centres of European history and culture, just before next year’s Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union. This will be the first time since Poland acceded to the European Union that it will chair the Council, and it will do so just when, at the same time, the former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek chairs the European Parliament. It can be said that Poland is taking an ever more prominent place in our institutions!”

The President of the European Council is delighted that the importance of your conference has warranted strong support from the Polish authorities, including the Mayor of Krakow Jacek Majchrowski and the Marshal of the Malopolska Region Marek Nawara.

More info on the conference

More than 310 editors and managers of leading news media from Europe and the world will arrive this week to Krakow to discuss the future of print, internet and mobile media as well as share their experience in how social, technological and market developments affect consumers and advertisers, and how to meet their expectations. The conference is already sold out, but you still can follow it online at forum4editors.com and at Twitter.

in.gr opening page

During the afternoon brainsnack session of INMA/OPA Outlook 2010 conference speakers have only 7  minutes to speak about their ideas and experience. It was held by Nikos Gouraros, Business Development Director of Digital Business Unit in Lambrakis Press (Greece), Joachim Dreykluft, the News Editor Online in Gruner + Jahr Wirtschaftsmedien (Germany), Alastair Machray, the Chief-Editor of Liverpool Echo (United Kingdom), and Robert Whitehead, the Director Marketing in Fairfax Media.
First to talk about the experience, advice, pitfalls on integrated newsrooms was Nikos Gouraros. Lambrakis Press holds the leading and most widely diversified position in the mass media industry in Greece. They were the first media sector company to be listed on the Athens Stock Exchange’s main market in 1998. Lambrakis publishes four newspapers and 24 magazines.

They also develop and run www.in.gr, the largest news and information portal in Greece. Lambrakis Press has 75% of Greek internet traffic. They want their readers to enjoy, participate, communicate, be informed.

According to Nikos Gouraros, newsmedia companies need to redefine themselves. They should look at companies like Google or MSN – they no longer call themselves software companies, they are media companies, and therefore a competition to newspapers.

The next speaker, Joachim Dreykluft, told the attendees about his experience and thoughts of why the integrated newsroom is necessary for news publishers. “One Brand, all Media” – this was the basic claim and idea when Financial Times Deutschland and FTD.de started back in spring 2000. An integrated newsroom was part of this from the very first day. But the crucial factors of success lie far beyond. They have to do with specialization, generalization – and diplomacy.

And even though FT.de’s model already sounds like one brand all media, it was not good enough, according to the speaker. So these were the weak points, that have been changed in the meantime:

• too much agency material on the site without context and background
• too much generalism
• good cooperation in the main newsroom but too little contact with correspondents and companies/politics/finance editors

As an effect, FT.de now produces news stories with background and context that agencies don’t deliver.

Alastair Machray, spoke about restructuring and streamlining of editorial processes as the newsmedia company moves toward a more complete digital transformation in 2010.The main problems of those processes are maximising the value of print and at the same time changing from print to multiplatform. Having traditional processes removed not only makes the workflow easier and clearer, but also helps to remove a lot of costs. The big economic recession, however, does not make it easier for Trinity Mirror’s Liverpool Echo which is in the process of such transformation.

Robert Whitehead stressed that most important for newsmedia companies during the time of transformation are:

1. creativity
2. campaigning content
3. community events
4. serving community
5. being contemporary

The strategy of Fairfax Media during the time of transformation included:

1. Building a creative agency in house for ad sales.
2. Creating content very very unique, campaign on topics readers care about (not those important to journalists), community advocacy improves brand status.
3. Creating an event businesses that make money. Charging people to sponsor the events.
4. Going into niches, Fairfax media is now the leader in: dating (rsvp.com.au), vacation homes (stayz.com.au), auctions, parenting, and youth entertainment

Robert Whitehead concluded the session with an interesting motto: use the economic downturn to drive change. After all, it’s an opportunity!