Two newspaper companies -- Die Welt in Germany and NRC Handelsblad in The Netherlands -- have recently adopted this approach and successfully produce several newspapers with a single newsroom. Andrea Seibel, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Die Welt, and Birgit Donker, Editor-in-Chief of NRC Handelsblad and NRC Next, will share their experiences at the 14th World Editors Forum, which runs concurrently with the 60th World Newspaper Congress and Info Services Expo 2007, the global meetings of the world’s press.

Full details of the conferences, organised by the World Association of Newspapers, can be found at www.wan-press.org/capetown2007.

In March 2006, the Dutch evening paper NRC Handelsblad launched an economical, morning paper aimed at a younger crowd. The idea behind NRC Next was simple: to quickly attract a younger group of well-educated potential news consumers without driving away traditional readers.

But NRC Next, which has surpassed expectations, is not a totally independent publication. Journalists from the two publications are on the same payroll, they are based in the same newsroom and they use the same equipment. Editorial is shared across papers.

Die Welt, Germany’s quality national daily, also seeks out younger readers with Welt Kompakt. And like Handeslblad, they are using a combined newsroom -- one that also produces a third newspaper, the Berliner Morgenpost, and a Sunday paper, Welt am Sonntag. Although staff cuts were severe when the newsrooms were combined, Die Welt benefits from the regional competencies of Berliner Morgenpost, while the Berlin paper benefits from the national competencies of Die Welt and Welt Kompakt.

The theme of the Forum is "Quality Journalism in the Digital Age." Other sessions include:

  "The Newsroom Barometer: How to Define Editorial Quality in the Digital Age," in which John Zogby, President of Zogby International, will present the Newsroom Barometer, a joint international survey by WEF, Zogby and Reuters. He will be joined in a panel discussion by Peter Hjörne, Op/Ed Editor-in-Chief of Göteborgs Posten in Sweden and editors from around the world.

  "Integrated newsrooms: what print does best and what online does best," which will examine several examples of merged print and online newsrooms. The session will feature Jonathan Landman, Deputy Managing Editor, and Jim Roberts, Editor of Digital News, at The New York Times, and Jennifer Carroll, Vice President for New Media Content at the Gannett Company in the United States.

  In a "Reuters Master Class" on user-generated content, delegates will hear from Adam Pasick, the Reuters journalist whose beat is the Second Life virtual world. Other speakers in the session include Dave Panos, CEO of the social network Pluck (USA), Rebecca MacKinnon, Co-founder of the bloggers network Global Voices (USA), Didier Pillet, Director of Information for Ouest-France,, and Richard Sambrook, Director of BBC Global News.

  "Front Page versus Home Page: Design Lessons," which will examine how web-designed home pages are inspiring new designs for the front pages of print editions. The session will feature Don Wittekind, a leading multimedia graphic design expert, now an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and the Poynter Institute of Media Studies, and other speakers to be announced.

  "Is It Possible to Cover Africa with One Correspondent," a session that will focus on providing better coverage of a continent of 900 million people and more than 50 countries. The session will feature Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-chief of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, and other speakers to be announced.

  "Can Free Papers Produce Quality Journalism," which will look at the second and third generation of free papers that have emerged, including sports and economic titles and free home-delivered newspapers. The session will feature Ben Rogmans, Co-founder and future Editor-in-chief of Dagblad De Pers in the Netherlands, Toger Seidenfaden, Editor-in-chief of Politken in Denmark, and David Trads, Editor-in-chief of Denmark’s Nyhedavisen.

  "Balancing Ethics, Transparency and Independence in the Newsroom," which will examine the impact of digital media on journalism ethics. Participants include Fritz van Exter, Editor-in-chief of Trouw in the Netherlands, François Nel, Director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at the Lancashire Business School in the United Kingdom, and Denis Muzet, Director of Mediascopie Institute in France.

  "Sharing Best Practices: Five Examples of Newspaper Cooperation, " which will provide editors with a range of new cooperative initiatives between newsrooms. The session will feature Marcel van Lingen, Editorial Director of the General Press Association in the Netherlands, Kenichiro Ayashi, Director of Press Net Japan, Grzegorz Piechota, Special Projects Editor at Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland, Rich Skrenta, CEO of Topix.net, and Pana Janviroj, President of The Nation in Thailand and Executive Director of Asia News Network.

Full details can be found at www.wan-press.org/capetown2007.

Sponsors of the events include Remgro, Richemont & VenFin, Mondi Shanduka Newsprint & Mondi International, the Sunday Times, M & G Media, JohnCom, Media 24, Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd and Caxton Publishers & Printers Ltd.

The Paris-based WEF is the organisation of the World Association of Newspapers that represents senior news executives. WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 76 national newspaper associations, newspapers and newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and ten regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 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: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.