Editor Paul Horrocks has told how he believes a multi-media portfolio approach is the way forward, and how the future is already taking shape at the Manchester Evening News.

The regional newspaper now publishes three paid-for editions followed by the free MEN Lite each day, alongside a website and city television station Channel M.

And an increasing number of its journalists are involved in producing news across the board.

Forty-eight of them have so far completed a training programme at the Newsplex multi-media and convergence centre at the University of South Carolina.

Paul told HoldtheFrontPage: "The purpose is to change the mindset of print journalists and teach them how to tell a story in a multi-media fashion, making the best of the Internet, television and video as well as print.

"This is an important development for the regional paper. We have a fantastic brand heritage and trust and now we are trying to flex those values into other areas."

As well as undergoing training at Newsplex, MEN journalists are also sent on month-long secondments to Channel M, to help them understand how to put together a television news report.

The purpose is not to teach them how to present to camera, but in one case a journalist made the transition from feature writer to television reporter.

Cameras and audio digital recorders are now routinely set up in the MEN newsroom and video and audio clips produced by reporters are loaded on to the paper's website to enhance the content.

Each newspaper story is also cross-referenced to the website, where extra content can be added because space is unlimited.

Stories from the newspaper are also passed on to the television station, where another reporter will follow it up. This report too is then returned to the website.

Comments posted on the website about recent news stories are also published in the paper every Saturday, completing the multi-media cycle.

Paul said: "Print is still at the heart of the business but we need to understand how best to attract an audience, whatever the media portfolio, and then sell that audience to advertisers.

"What I'm also pushing for is a cross-media measuring system which combines the audience of the paid-for, the free, the website and television, which we could then give to advertisers.

"This multi-media approach might not work for everybody, but it is the future for us."