European newspapers establish joint association
The founding members of the Lena Alliance are *Die Welt* from Germany, *El País* from Spain, *La Repubblica* from Italy, *Le Figaro* from France, *Le Soir* from Belgium, and the *Tages-Anzeiger* and *Tribune de Genève* from Switzerland.
Seven daily newspapers from six European countries have joined forces in the Leading European Newspaper Alliance (Lena) to pool their journalistic expertise and promote quality journalism in Europe. The publishers of the daily newspapers have appointed Javier Moreno as the first coordinator of the alliance. The Spaniard was editor-in-chief of El País from 2006 to 2014.
Among other things, Lena is committed to strengthening the formation of public opinion throughout Europe. This is because the members share a number of common values regarding the importance of quality journalism for the structure of open and democratic societies as a basis for economic progress and social justice. The alliance aims to ensure an editorial, technological and economic edge for its members and will therefore select suitable cooperation partners for this purpose.
One focus of the collaboration is the development and exchange of editorial content. For example, each member will make selected articles available on a shared platform, which the other members can use as needed. In addition, interviews, features and commentaries will be created specifically for simultaneous publication in all Lena publications. Furthermore, Lena members will implement joint digital development activities in the future and establish a staff exchange program. This program is intended to give journalists as well as other staff members the opportunity to learn about working at other newspapers and thereby expand their skills.
Lena is also intended to contribute to the Europe-wide exchange of ideas. The plan is to bring together experts and decision-makers from politics and business at events that address key issues in the development of Europe. Javier Moreno, director of Lena: "This alliance will contribute to a truly profound transformation of our newspapers through content creation and digital as well as business developments that would not have been possible otherwise - for the benefit of our readers across the continent."
The alliance is subject to antitrust approval by the relevant competition authorities.
