Topics & Speakers

The European Publishing Congress will take place in June 2024 in Vienna. Media managers, editors-in-chief, designers and digital experts from Europe's best publishing companies present their strategies and discuss the future of the media industry.

How "Der Spiegel" uses AI for fact-checking

"AI doesn't write articles for us, we can do that ourselves," says Ole Reißmann plainly. The journalist with a recognisable penchant for the internet and technology on his CV has been Head of AI at "Der Spiegel" since the beginning of the year. Reißmann and his team of five people are responsible for the editorial team's and the publisher's AI projects. For example, the documentation department is working on AI-supported verification of simple facts. On the one hand, this is to give the documentarians more time for more demanding research, and on the other hand to better validate those articles that could not previously be checked by the fact checkers due to time constraints.

In addition, "Der Spiegel" is experimenting a lot with AI. In one of these experiments, texts are turned into podcasts and then translated into Russian and Turkish. "We don't yet know whether the quality will be right in the end and whether there is a market at all, but we are certainly gaining experience," says Reißmann. In Vienna, Ole Reißmann explains what experiences "Der Spiegel" has had with AI so far and what the next priorities will be in Hamburg.

AI already writes eleven per cent of articles

The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger media are very advanced when it comes to artificial intelligence. Eleven per cent of articles are already written by AI. The technology is also used to recommend texts, as well as for tagging, indexing and image editing. A dynamic paywall is used in sales. CEO Thomas Schultz-Homberg explains what experiences the media company has had with AI, what is planned next and why ChatGPT and co. are not being blocked.

The use of AI at Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and the strategy of CEO Thomas Schultz-Homberg are also the cover story of "kress pro" 1/2024. Read more here.

Develop or buy?

AI in Heise's corporate strategy The interface between editorial staff and social media has long been indispensable, although it also ties up a disproportionate amount of resources. Heise secured an intelligent AI application through a company acquisition and is now rolling it out across all media. Ansgar Heise explains what growth strategy the German media company is pursuing and what role AI plays in this.

Ansgar Heise is Managing Partner of the Heise Group. In 2024, he was honoured by "kress" as "Media Manager of the Year".

Lots of AI, zero print:
Shaping the future at a "hackathon"

Hans Dichand turned the "Krone" into Austria's largest newspaper with a national reach of more than 40 per cent. In the meantime, as with many other media, customers are ageing. And they are getting fewer. How can the next generation be won over? The "Krone" set 30 young people this task in a "hackathon". First of all: the printed newspaper did not feature in any of the concepts, but AI played a central role in practically all of them. Clara-Milena Steiner and Jennifer Kapellari show what conclusions the "Kronen Zeitung" drew and which ideas are now being pursued.

Clara Milena Steiner is head of the political section of the "Krone" in Carinthia.
Jennifer Kapellari is editor of the "Krone" in Carinthia and presents the Tiktok channel for the "Krone".

What AI skills will media companies need in the future?

The "Axel Springer Academy of Journalism and Technology" trains journalism students and tech students for the future of Springer media. COO Lars Moll explains what Springer values when selecting future employees and how the media group promotes the interdisciplinary knowledge of young people in particular. The media manager also presents impressive AI and AR projects developed at the Academy.

Lars Moll has been working as a media manager for Gruner+Jahr and Axel Springer for more than 15 years. Most recently, he was responsible for the digital offerings of "Bild" and "Welt". As COO of the Axel Springer Academy, he manages the Tech Programme, the upskilling offerings, strategic partnerships and the international Knowledge Network.

AI and generative language models:
How media companies are investing wisely now

Investment decisions relating to AI and generative language models are extremely challenging. Gerhard Kürner explains how media companies can shape their future in the current environment and at the same time avoid expensive investment ruins. He is considered one of the top experts in the field of AI. Kürner advises APA, Tiroler Tageszeitung, Russ Media and other media companies.

Gerhard Kürner is Managing Partner of the Austrian software company 506.ai, which has been developing AI solutions for years.

Why the "Jungfrau Zeitung" has discontinued print and banned ChatGPT

Until 2020, the Swiss "Jungfrau Zeitung" was published twice a week in print before publisher Urs Gossweiler switched the local subscription newspaper to purely digital distribution. In addition to the website, an e-paper with 40 pages is now published daily. The editorial team is no longer headed by an editor-in-chief, but by a daily manager. The Swiss publisher explains how the project is financed and why he has banned the use of ChatGPT.

Urs Gossweiler is the publisher of the "Jungfrau Zeitung", which is now only published digitally in the Bern area.

Europe's best multimedia editorial teams and their outstanding projects

More and more newspaper publishers are now running multimedia editorial teams. And they are doing exceptional work. De Volkskrant stands out with its sophisticated cross-media projects. Infographics are created digitally and in print to suit the channel. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung is increasingly focussing on news videos with animated infographics. The Financial Times uses satellite images to report on illegal oil shipments to North Korea. And Helsingin Sanomat documents Russia's invasion of Ukraine in impressive multimedia projects. Norbert Küpper shows which newspaper houses have mastered both the printed and digital channels remarkably well and are therefore role models for others.

Norbert Küpper is a newspaper designer in Germany. He founded the European Newspaper Award and the European Newspaper Congress 25 years ago.

European Weekly Newspaper of the Year

Unmistakable in print and digital

No junk food for quick consumption: the weekly newspaper "der Freitag" focuses on a clear, tidy and elegant layout and a "second look" at things. Background information, analyses and debates on current affairs characterise the paper and its online presence. A special feature of the layout is the varied use of illustrations. They emphasise key topics, debates and special editions. The original topics also create a distinctive agenda. In 2022, Freitag revamped its online presence and significantly expanded its digital offering. A new editorial design was introduced in June 2023. "der Freitag" is published in the Rhine format and is published in Berlin. The paid circulation is just over 25,000 copies. The team consists of 18 permanent members of the editorial team and 7 colleagues in the art department.

Editor-in-chief Philip Grassmann, Lisa Kolbe and Christian Bobsien from the art department present the concept and strategy of "der Freitag".

European Newspaper of the Year

A role model from the first to the last page

"Naftemporiki" is primarily dedicated to financial and economic topics and has a serious and elegant layout to match. The choice of fonts used, the page layout and the use of infographics are excellent. The design of the front page is extremely varied: sometimes there are large headlines and smaller illustrations, sometimes a large picture dominates and, in the case of special events, a photo is placed underneath and the headline on top. Large topics are presented on double-page spreads and often divided into different sections in order to present the content quickly and clearly. "Naftemporiki" is an exemplary business newspaper. Excellently arranged by a small team on a daily basis. "Naftemporiki" is a financial and business newspaper in tabloid format published in Piraeus, Athens. It is considered the most important daily newspaper in Greece in the financial and shipping sector. The newspaper has a circulation of 5,000 copies. It employs 25 editors, 5 page editors, 1 photo editor and 6 layout artists.

Dimitris Nikas, Design Director of "Naftemporiki" (GR), will present the redesign, the concept of the front and inside pages, the inserts and special editions.

The next big thing in publishing?
How WhatsApp channels are shaking up the industry

Short-term hype or new opportunities? Now that Facebook is becoming less and less important as a distribution channel, publishers are increasingly turning their attention to WhatsApp. This is because with WhatsApp channels, Meta has now created an opportunity to bring messages directly into people's most personal stream. Simone Wagner explains the strategy BurdaForward has already used to reach over one million followers with its channels and the initial lessons that can be learnt from practice.

Simone Wagner is Director Publisher Network at BurdaForward and, with around 100 content cooperation partners, ensures a unique breadth and depth of topics on FOCUS online, CHIP.de and BUNTE.de

European National Newspaper of the Year

The tasks of multidisciplinary teams in the editorial department

With typography, photography and illustrations, "nrc" creates a convincing appearance: young, dynamic, future-orientated. The Dutch newspaper achieves a fresh and clear design on all channels - on paper as well as online, on social media and even podcasts. The continued existence of paper is also uncertain at "nrc". That's why digital first has become an even more important topic in the "nrc" newsroom this year. Enormous importance is attached to the formation of multidisciplinary teams. But how do you form such teams and how do you ensure that their visual identity remains visible everywhere? And incidentally, how do you manage to maintain high quality on paper in a digital newsroom? "nrc" is published in Amsterdam in tabloid format and has 298,000 subscribers. The newspaper employs 266 editors, 11 photo editors and 26 layout artists. In addition to the employed photographers and layout artists, there are also freelancers, without whose creative work the production would hardly be possible.

Anne-Marije Vendeville, art director of "nrc", will present the concept of Europe's "National Newspaper of the Year".

European Regional Newspaper of the Year

After the relaunch: From full format to tabloid

The Tagesspiegel combines digital and print reporting through verticality: the print edition offers reliable information in a compact form, while in-depth analyses and specialist briefings provide specialised knowledge online. New connections between digital and analogue content have been created both online, e.g. through scrollytelling, and offline, through the integration of digital formats into the newspaper. This is intended to fulfil the different information needs of the readership.
Half of its circulation is already published as an e-paper, 80 per cent of tagesspiegel.de's reach is national and the chances are good that the print edition will also reach new target groups not only in Berlin, but throughout Germany. The printed "Tagesspiegel" is published in Berlin with a paid circulation of 100,504 copies, of which more than 52,000 are e-papers. With currently 9.2 million unique users (agof daily digital facts 04/2023, month March 2023), the website tagesspiegel.de is one of the top 10 news sites in Germany with the widest reach.
At "Tagesspiegel", the entire editorial team of around 300 people is responsible for both the printed newspaper and the digital offerings - website, newsletter, specialist briefings, podcasts, social media and app. This includes the two Heads of Visual Department, 6 people in the art department (online & print), 8 in the picture department and 6 in the layout department.

Editor-in-chief Christian Tretbar, Katrin Schuber and Manuel Kostrzynski, art directors and heads of the visual department, will present the "Tagesspiegel" concept.

AI and journalistic writing

What makes BILD and the language of the BILD newspaper distinctive

What journalistic writing must achieve in order to stand out from increasingly flawless AI-generated texts. Insights and findings are provided by BILD editor-in-chief Marion Horn and Peter Linden, author of the recently published DUDEN "Handbuch Stil".

European Magazine of the Year

Design as a central task for managing a media brand

Last year, "Wirtschaftswoche" worked intensively on the relaunch of its weekly print edition. "It's actually an anachronism, but we will need the printed core product for even longer," explains Editor-in-Chief Horst von Buttlar. However, the strategic approach was much more important, as design has a central role to play in the brand management of "Wirtschaftswoche" that goes far beyond the printed magazine. Ultimately, it is about reinventing the traditional brand. Design plays a part in ensuring that the balancing act between print and digital is successful. Above all, the aim is to attract paying readers. Wirtschaftswoche" has its editorial headquarters in Düsseldorf. It has a paid circulation of 86,000 copies, just over half of which are digital. The team consists of 70 permanent members of the editorial team and 13 colleagues in the art department.

Editor-in-chief Horst von Buttlar will present the strategy of Europe's "Magazine of the Year" together with creative director Patrick Zeh.

Who determines the discourse?

What is the public sphere today? The media no longer have the privilege of being generally recognised as the public's navigator. They have lost a lot of trust among the population - due to social media, where influencers determine opinions and where concerted fake news actors repeatedly succeed in creating false narratives. Competition is growing from those who do not want to soberly categorise, but rather disinform. And it is influencing election results in favour of populists.
How can we as the established media succeed in retaining the power of interpretation? How can we remain relevant and be heard by the public? How can we ensure that they continue to place their trust in us and consider us relevant enough to subscribe to us?

Anette Dowideit, deputy editor-in-chief of the non-profit media company CORRECTIV, shows ways out of the crisis of trust: Journalism that listens instead of lecturing; that no longer sees its role solely in providing information, but also in imparting media expertise; that involves citizens in the selection and implementation of research. And which also specifically addresses those who have already lost some of their trust in state institutions and established media. FOTO: (Credit: Ivo Mayr/CORRECTIV