Newsroom of the future launched in Prague

WAN is PPF's founding partner in this landmark project, which focuses on the challenges facing the newspaper industry from the financial crisis and competition from new methods and multiple channels of communication. Futuroom is part of a larger PPF Media project in the area of hyperlocal news, both print and online, which is soon to be launched in the Czech Republic.

WAN to advise

Through the World Editors Forum (WEF), WAN will provide advisory and consulting services, as well as top speakers for Futuroom conferences, seminars and master classes. The first conference, entitled “Brave new world: media and businesses facing the crisis”, will take place at Futuroom today, 26 May, 2009.

Education and training

Futuroom, the multimedia news lab in PPF's Prague premises, will offer media education and training aimed at local news reporting and modern-day journalism in a purpose-built newsroom that features advanced technologies. PPF partners also include Google and Atex, which will provide technology, know-how and best practices for editorial software and web-focused tools. “We are very proud to be participating in the creation of a sophisticated, converged newsroom based in the centre of Europe, with ambitions to address a broader CEE and CIS region with its educational programmes and practical examples of modern journalism,” said Bertrand Pecquerie, the director of the World Editors Forum.

“Low-cost solution”

Roman Gallo, PPF's director for media strategies, said: “Futuroom is designed to be a centrepiece of new media education and training, but also a central editorial office for the PPF Media project of print and online publications named Our Address. We are excited to launch this modern newsroom with a great team of professionals. Last, but not least, Futuroom and Our Address will approach the recent media challenges in a very effective way, representing a low-cost solution for journalism at hyperlocal level by adapting the most efficient technologies and tools to regional media houses and interpersonal communication.”