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#su2011: New online open newsroom a hit for Swedish newspaper

A pioneering Swedish newspaper that involves its readers in the daily editorial decision-making process says the new approach has been a massive hit with users and advertisers.

Norran, a large regional daily in the north of Sweden, has opened up its newsroom with a tool called eEditor, a live chat powered by CoverItLive where readers can discuss story ideas with journalists in real time.

The blog is monitored by a senior journalist throughout the day. The newslist and minutes from conferences are published online and readers suggest possible angles and ask questions.

Editor-in-chief Anette Novak said Norran had completely overhauled its image by involving readers and being more transparent.

Speaking at the WAN-IFRA summer university in Paris today, she said: “I realised that if anybody asks: ‘do we need Norran?’ they would decide: no we don’t. We had to stop it before the question even occurs in their heads.”

She said web traffic and Facebook referrals were up – and key motoring and property advertisers who deserted during the recession had come back. The experiment has also allowed the paper to broaden its coverage.

“We believe that we have strengthened our brand,” Novak said.

“Transparency is the new objectivity. We post the job list – the stories we are working on today.

“The instant feedback and the personal reply is extremely important. It’s the feeling that there’s somebody there live now.

“You have to answer in a good way, a polite way and a knowledgeable way, or you can lose trust.”

Novak said some news organisations were so focused on getting a return on investment from digital projects that they lost sight of their readers’ needs.

“If we follow the money… that will make us go for projects that we know will make money and we will keep doing the same thing over and over again. We have to experiment.

“Get readers involved with your brand, engage them with their hearts and minds and the money will follow.”

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14 Responses to “#su2011: New online open newsroom a hit for Swedish newspaper”

  1. » Swedish newspaper has ‘massive hit’ with online open newsroom | Journalism.co.uk Editors’ Blog Media Strategery Says:

    [...] #su2011: Swedish newspaper has ‘massive hit’ with online open newsroom | Journalism.co.uk Editor…. Filed under Journalism ← Will Big Data Save Us? We Can Pray. « FM Blog – [...]


  2. Jornal sueco satisfeito com redacção aberta : Ponto Media Says:

    [...] UMA EXPERIÊNCIA interessante: Swedish newspaper has ‘massive hit’ with online open newsroom. [...]


  3. #SU2011: Forget hyperlocal, the future’s ‘hyperpersonal’ | Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog Says:

    [...] #su2011: New online open newsroom a hit for Swedish newspaper [...]


  4. Future Journalism: The Open Newsroom | Echo Says:

    [...] what a Swedish newspaper is doing. And it’s a big hit with their readers! From the original post: “We believe that we have strengthened our brand,” Novak [...]


  5. links for 2011-06-29 » Wha'Happened? Says:

    [...] #su2011: Swedish newspaper has ‘massive hit’ with online open newsroom | Journalism.co.uk Editor… (tags: community newspapers sweden crowdsourcing editorial) [...]


  6. Et si les conférences de rédaction étaient participatives ? « La Social Newsroom Says:

    [...] Journalism.co.uk raconte l’histoire de Norran, un journal suédois qui laisse ses lecteurs participer aux conférence de rédaction, et décider des sujets à traiter et des angles journalistiques. [...]


  7. Newspapers and social media: Still mostly doing it wrong - sc-pulse-media Says:

    [...] meetings online with CoverItLive, asking readers for suggestions and input on what it is covering. The paper’s editor told a conference recently that not only have readers shown a huge interest in getting involved in this way, but advertisers are also interested because of the increased [...]


  8. Newspapers and social media: Still mostly doing it wrong | TechDiem.com Says:

    [...] meetings online with CoverItLive, asking readers for suggestions and input on what it is covering. The paper’s editor told a conference recently that not only have readers shown a huge interest in getting involved in this way, but advertisers are also interested because of the increased [...]


  9. Δυο Αρθράκια Για Την Online Δημοσιογραφία, Σβέλτα | θοδωρής γεωργακόπουλος Says:

    [...] πρώτο: Ένα Σουηδικό newsroom «άνοιξε» στο κοινό, φτιάχνοντας ένα μπλογκ/chatroom με το Coveritlive, στο οποίο οι [...]


  10. 10 Yetis Public Relations Says:

    Will PRs ruin the Guardian newslist for everybody?…

    When I first heard that the Guardian was to be posting its daily newslist online (basically, a list of stories they’re covering that day, the general gist and who’s covering it), I was impressed. I wasn’t quite sure whether or not your average reader…


  11. The Guardian Opening Up Newslists So Readers Help Decide What's News @PSFK Says:

    [...] is not the first time this has been tried. A Swedish regional newspaper called Norran has already been successfully using a blog and Twitter to engage readers in a conversation about the editorial decision-making process. Eventually, I [...]


  12. Thomas Says:

    The eEditor is NOT an application from coveritlive as the article says. The eEditor is developed by swedish netdialog.se


  13. The Guardian publiceert ‘work in progress’ om lezers mee te laten helpen | De nieuwe reporter Says:

    [...] is The Guardian niet het eerst met dit experiment. De Zweedse regionale krant Noran was de Britse krant voor met het gebruik van blogs en Twitter om lezers te betrekken bij het [...]


  14. Is An Open News Approach The Way To Go? - 10,000 Words Says:

    [...] Guardian is not the first paper to publish its upcoming stories publicly. Journalism.co.uk reported in June that Norran, a Swedish regional paper, had opened its newsroom to readers with eReader, a tool [...]


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