She said that Die Welt journalists do not miss the bygone days of hiding away in cubby-hole offices, hemmed in with stacks of paper and typewriters. A single large, open-plan newsroom at Die Welt houses what Seibel referred to as “one big family” – the online edition, as well as the broadsheet and compact print versions.

The first to get to the office are the online journalists, followed later in the morning by the broadsheet team. Finally, in the afternoon, the Die Welt Kompakt staff look over the content of Die Welt and condense it into the third product of the day.

Seibel was keen to stress just how much overlap there is between each of these teams, where editors-in-chief and production staff sit side by side. “Curiosity and looking over each others’ shoulders are the order of the day,” she said. The Die Welt newsroom is a control centre as well as a meeting place.

On the battle between print and online, she said the two media retain different functions, and there is no “cannibalisation” of one by the other – “each title preserves its own soul”.

She said that journalists are moving with the times, and that their “ivory tower of intellectual pursuit” is no more. Die Welt thrives on ideas born in lively conversation in a dynamic newsroom that encourages this – as well as strong leaders and good features. Journalism is no longer a “cultural good” which needs to be protected from the marketplace.

After years of upheaval, she said, journalists want sustainability, and an integrated newsroom is one way of achieving it. The Die Welt newsroom has attracted many curious visitors, said Seibel, and its success continues to baffle even those who work in it.

By Oliver Brock, Wits University Journalism