HISTORY OF NEWSPLEX

It started with a philosophy, based upon Ifra’s work in newsrooms all over the world. Simply stated, news organizations in the future need to focus on stories, not production.

By the year 2000, it was obvious that the way people consume news was changing. They no longer waited for the arrival of their newspaper or the next news broadcast. Instead, they were following stories throughout the day, getting information from a variety of sources.

Traditional news organizations struggled to meet their needs in part because their newsrooms typically were organized around a principal production platform. The need for a Newsplex was apparent.

Kerry Northrup, then director of advanced news operations for Ifra, began putting together a plan for a prototype newsroom of the future, where new techniques and technologies could be tested and news organizations could come to train.

Ifra reached an agreement with the University of South Carolina College of Journalism and Mass Communications under the terms of which it would build Newsplex and donate it to the University, retaining use of the facility for its clients.

Northrup brought internationally-known architect Saf Fahim from Archronica Architects into the project and lined up financial support from a who’s who of forward-thinking media companies, who make up the Newsplex Directorate. South Carolina ETV provided space and construction began.

In November, 2002, the vision became a reality. The Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina opened in ceremonies attended by South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges, University President Andrew Sorensen and Ifra CEO Reiner Mittelbach. A banner at that ceremony proclaimed, The Future of News is Here! Northrup was named director of the facility he had created. Read archived story, see photos>

Since then, hundreds of journalists have come to Newsplex from every corner of the world, including many countries in Europe, South America, Australia, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The University uses the facility for classes, academic conferences and research. Even the United States Department of Justice has turned to Newsplex for training assistance to support its AMBER Alert program to find missing children.

In 2005, Northrup returned to Ifra headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, to become director of the organization's publications. He was replaced as director of the South Carolina facility by Randy Covington, a member of the core Newsplex training team, a faculty member at the USC School of Journalism and a former broadcast journalist.

In 2005, Ifra opened a parallel facility, Newsplex Europe, at its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. The European Newsplex team works primarily with newspapers on that continent, In 2006, Ifra was intimately involved in the reorganization of London's Daily Telegraph, one of the most significant convergence initiatives to date. Will Lewis, the Daily Telegraph editor, discussed the project at Ifra's Paris Newsroom Summit in the spring of 2007. Read more>

In the U.S., Newsplex has been doing an increasing amount of work with strategic communicators. We have done briefings for both the South Carolina and Columbia Chambers of Commerce. We did workshops in Washington for the magazine staffs of AARP. Also in Washington, we have done training at the U.S. Army's Soldiers Media Center, which combines Soldier Magazine, the Army's radio and TV operation, online and its internal news service.

At a time when some are just discovering and experimenting with the concepts of convergence, we have been practicing them in Newsplex since 2002.