World Association of News Publishers


The 2015 Newsroom: High Standards with Low-Cost Solutions

The 2015 Newsroom: High Standards with Low-Cost Solutions

Paris, France and Darmstadt, Germany – 2009-09-10

Ezio Mauro, the Italian editor whose newspaper is being sued for defamation by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for questioning his behaviour, and Mario Garcia, who defines contemporary newspaper design, have joined the programme of "The 2015 Newsroom: High Standards & Low Cost Solutions,"; to be held on 1 and 2 October in Prague, Czech Republic.

Ezio Mauro, the Italian editor whose newspaper is being sued for defamation by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for questioning his behaviour, and Mario Garcia, who defines contemporary newspaper design, have joined the programme of "The 2015 Newsroom: High Standards & Low Cost Solutions,"; to be held on 1 and 2 October in Prague, Czech Republic.

Mr Mauro is Editor-in-Chief of La Repubblica, which is being sued for defamation by Mr Berlusconi for repeatedly publishing 10 questions asking the Prime Minister to explain his extra-marital relationships, the subject of widely reported public scandals this year. "This is the first time in memory of a free country that a politician is suing because of questions directed at him,"; Mr Mauro has said.

Mr Mauro will make a keynote speech entitled, "La Repubblica versus Berlusconi: why it is important for press freedom in Europe,"; and will also take part in a panel discussion with other leading editors on how they envision the newsroom of 2015.

Dr Garcia, one of the world's leading newspaper and website designers, is also a keynote speaker, in a conference session on "Visual journalism: the rise of non-narrative news";. He will present the best examples of the year's print and online redesigns and provide an in-depth look at the future of non-narrative news.

Full details of the conference, organised by the Paris-based World Editors Forum and PPF Media at the Futuroom multimedia training centre in Prague, can be found at www.2015newsroom.com.

Mr Mauro will be joined in the discussions about future newsrooms by Espen Egil Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of VG Multimedia in Norway, Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, Editor-in-Chief of Der Standard in Austria, and George Brock, former managing editor of The Times and now Head of Journalism for the City University of London.

Dr Garcia's session also includes Joerdis Guzman Bulla, Art Director for Welt am Sonntag in Germany; Robb Montgomery, Editor-in-Chief and Founder, visualeditors.com, USA.

Other sessions include:

-  "Free internet versus paid online content? Which business models to choose for news?";, a panel featuring Matt Kelly, Associate Editor of the Daily Mirror and mirror.co.uk; Santiago de la Mora, Head of Print Content Partnerships for Europe for Google News; and Martin Moore, Founder of Media Standards Trust in the United Kingdom.

- "The mobile/Twitter revolution: how the real-time web is changing the news process,"; with Martha Stone, Director of the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA); and Artur Karda, Deputy Director of News Websites and Tomasz Krawczyk, New Media Deputy Director, at Media Regionaine in Poland.

-  "How to set up a web TV team within your newsroom";, with Anders Refnov, Web TV manager for Ekstrabladet in Denmark; and Natalia Loseva, First Deputy Head of the Integrated Newsroom at Ria Novosti in Russia.

-  "Hyperlocal news: the explosion of traditional regional media";, which will examine the growth of successful hyperlocal news operations and their potential for traditional newspaper companies. The session will feature Roman Gallo, Director for Media Strategies of PPF, whose Nase Adresa in the Czech Republic is a prime example of the new business model.


-  "Personalized news and the semantic web: what added value for journalism?";, which will feature Stefan Lechere, Vice President for Business Development of Netvibes of France; Jan Bierhoff, Director of the European Centre for Digital Communications at Zuyd University in The Netherlands, Reynald Lemaire, a Partner at Anals-IT in Belgium; and Jerome Laredo, the European Director for ATEX (all speakers to be confirmed).

Full details, including registration information, can be found at www.2015newsroom.com.

A related study tour in Prague, to examine the hyperlocal news operations of Nase Adresa, is also available. Full details of the tour, to be held on 29 and 30 September, are available at www.wan-press.org/wefprague2009/.

Participants in the 2015 Newsroom Conference are also being offered a special rate if they wish to attend the World Young Reader Conference, set for Prague from 27 to 30 September. Details about the biennial conference, which is back in Europe for the first time in six years, can be found at www.wan-press.org/prague2009.

The World Editors Forum (www.worldeditorsforum.org) is the organisation of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) that represents editors-in-chief and other senior news executives.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world's newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: larry.kilman@wan-ifra.org.

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