Taoiseach Enda Kenny has formally opened the new digital-led news hub for Independent News & Media. Located at the company’s Talbot Street office in Dublin 1, the hub will manage editorial and content for the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, The Herald, Sunday World and Independent.ie.

The company said the project was implemented after considerable research into international best practice around the operation of modern newsrooms in a rapidly changing environment in news publishing.

Stephen Rae, Group Editor-in-Chief, Independent News & Media, said: “The development of a centralised news desk has been accompanied by a redesign of the newsroom and has been supported by significant investment in technology and training.

“A key benefit of the new model is that reporting from the shared newsroom is now available across all titles. At the same time, the editors of each title retain full independence, with core journalistic teams on each title and significant resources to commission, produce and direct content for their respective newspapers.

“We studied the best newsrooms across the globe and the content hub we’ve developed here was specifically designed for INM. Our online and editorial teams now operate from the one floor. This mix of journalists and digital experts in the one space will drive our technology focus and lead to the best online offering available.”

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INM chairman Leslie Buckley added: “It can be safely asserted that INM now has the most modern fit-for-purpose news management system in this country. However, it is important that we will continue to innovate and change in an ever evolving market environment.”

INM plans to spend €250,000 in a new digital training and education programme with the National College of Ireland. “Financed fully by INM, this initiative is sure to benefit our teams across the whole INM Group and ultimately the consumers of our news content,” said Buckley

This year INM introduced a graduate programme for the editorial department in which it has recruited fifteen graduates, fourteen in the Republic of Ireland and one in Northern Ireland. “The INM graduate initiative is the only such programme in Ireland certified by the Press Association in London and it is an investment by INM in the future of the profession, not just its own operations,” said Rae.

INM says that 2.4 million combined readers connect each week in print and online with the Irish Independent, The Herald, The Sunday Independent and the Sunday World. Across the group’s websites, total annual page impressions is anticipated to be in excess of one billion per annum, while unique monthly users reached more than 10 million for the month of July on Independent.ie.