Concert at the LVZ in Leipzig to complete the new editing rooms

“The most beautiful newsroom in Germany”

The mood was great. In addition to the joy of meeting and talking again in a relaxed atmosphere, many guests came with great curiosity about what it’s like to work in a newspaper’s editorial room these days. The transfer was completed in nine months – in the economically difficult times of the pandemic. At the same time, in the days of the home office, it was easy to tear down the walls. Happy with the result of her work, the architect, Gabrielle Church, said that “the most beautiful editing room in Germany” appeared.

What the two editing rooms look like, who works where and how the work changes as a result, guests find out on tours of the house. Eight LVZ editors supervised the tours in small groups and explained the new way of working: traditional management structures were abolished, work was done according to themes. The open rooms provide a total of 68 workplaces and enable permanent exchange, also through the interaction of print and digital channels.

Sample for other publishing sites

Editor-in-chief Hana Soba took the first round with Saxon Science Minister Sebastian Gemko, MDR Director Carola Weil and future Leipzig Opera director Tobias Wolff. He himself worked in the LVZ culture department from 2003 to 2006 and still remembers the huge time pressures, for example to finish the review in a jiffy after a concert in the arena. “Well done, well done,” he said of the new rooms. “Everything has changed a lot, but you can get to know him again.”

Exciting, modern and fresh – this is the impression of RB Leipzig star Marcel Halstenberg. Writer Regine Moebius, one of LVZ’s “Voices of Leipzig,” was also pleasantly surprised: “I was afraid it was an open office. But there are islands where you can separate yourself and quickly get back together,” she says. “As requirements increase, so should comfort,” she added. Madsack Managing Director Thomas Duffert sees it the same way: “As beautiful as it turns out, it is an inspiration for other sites from our publishing house. And also for your own office.”

The new coffee machine is very popular

Mobile work means that reporters come to the publishing house for meetings or between two appointments, sit in regular offices, at high tables or in the reporters’ cafe, plug in their laptop or use one of the phone boxes. In the middle you can have coffee. “The coffee machine is very popular and ten chapters better than its predecessor,” the editor-in-chief smiled.

Look at tomorrow’s newspaper

In the second editing room, guests could see on the screens what tomorrow’s newspaper would look like. The alternate chiefs and the producers of the print edition were still hard at work around 8 p.m. Meanwhile, there was a relaxed, festive atmosphere in the LVZ front yard, in the canteen, and in the party tent in the parking lot.

There was music from a DJ, snacks from the “flying buffet” and a photo wall in front of which each guest could show off their wonderful smile. And in the end everyone could stand on the front page of LVZ: as a farewell greeting, there was a special print with photos of the evening to take home.

from Kristen Decker