NRC: futureproofing the newsroom with digital innovation
As one of the Netherlands’ most influential news brands, NRC needed a solution that could handle high-volume reporting while preserving its reputation for rigorous journalism. Integrated with the WordPress CMS, MediaPress has streamlined NRC’s workflows, boosted efficiency, and laid the foundations for scalable digital growth.
Flexible publishing for large-scale teams
With nearly two centuries of history and a reputation for in-depth reporting, NRC had already proven itself as a pioneer by launching one of the first Dutch online newspapers back in 1995. But as digital publishing matured, its newsroom faced growing demands.
High volumes of daily coverage needed to be published faster, with less friction in review and production. Editorial teams were handling hundreds of stories and assets simultaneously, which made consistency harder to maintain, and while WordPress gave NRC a strong foundation, producing distinctive journalism at volume called for more flexibility around metadata, multimedia, and newsroom collaboration.
Simplified editorial workflows
With MediaPress, NRC’s editors benefit from a suite of features that simplify day-to-day publishing and give teams much more control.
- The Publication Checklist, tailored to NRC’s editorial standards, ensures every article carries the required metadata, tags, and structural elements before going live.
- The Revisions functionality, which works with NRC’s custom Gutenberg blocks, lets editors compare article versions side by side and restore drafts with confidence.
- Custom Fields, configured to support NRC’s bespoke styling and metadata requirements, keep stories consistent across the site.
By embedding these tools into its WordPress workflow, NRC reduces manual effort, shortens review cycles, and ensures its journalism continues to hit the highest standards.
Embracing visual reporting
As a publication known for in-depth reporting and strong visual storytelling, NRC needed a smoother way to handle multimedia within WordPress. MediaPress’s Media Manager allows editors to create dedicated libraries for each article, making it easier to upload, crop, and organise images directly in the CMS. This reduces time spent searching shared folders and eliminates the need for external editing tools.
Improving discoverability
NRC wanted to strengthen internal linking without adding to editorial workload, so MediaPress’s Entity Linking feature was integrated with the publisher’s custom APIs.
Now, when a journalist highlights text in the WordPress editor, MediaPress suggests relevant NRC articles to link to. This makes it simple to add contextual links in seconds, boosting SEO and keeping readers engaged with more of NRC’s trusted reporting.
Meaningful results for editors
Faster publishing
Streamlined processes that eliminate bottlenecks and speed up reporting.
Stronger consistency
Metadata and checklists keep stories aligned with editorial standards.
Richer visual reporting
Images are now easier to manage, edit and restore without the reliance of third party tools.
Providing long-term value
On top of immediate workflow improvements, NRC needed assurance that its publishing platform could grow with its newsroom. MediaPress was built around the 80:20 principle, which means most features work out of the box, while the remaining flexibility allows for tailored customisation.
For NRC, this meant adapting the Publication Checklist to its editorial standards, extending metadata fields for custom styling and categories, and integrating MediaPress with existing APIs for smarter linking.
Because MediaPress is continuously updated and automatically tested against new WordPress releases, NRC can adopt platform updates without disruption. As one of the earliest adopters, it also contributes feedback and requests to shape future features, ensuring the toolkit evolves in step with its newsroom.
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