"We introduced it obviously and knowingly. We want people to talk about us as the paper of record, but also as the newspaper that published that stupid column about sex," said Mr Vandermeersch, Editor in Chief of De Standaard.

That sums up the philosophy of the paper - to remain a solid, respected source for political and economic news, but also to have a little fun and cast off its staid image.

It meant changing the corporate culture as well as changing the newspaper. In three years, Mr Vandermeersch has hired and fired 100 journalists and replaced seven of nine section editors and all of the columnists. He has introduced daily supplements on a variety of culture and lifestyle subjects and increased the use of copy from the Financial Times, NRC Handelsblad, The Guardian and Observer and The Washington Post.

"We opened the paper to the world and our readers are very enthusiastic about it. The editorial staff isn’t always happy with it but the readers are," said Mr Vandermeersch.

At the end of 2001, the paper conducted a readership survey, distributing 45 questions about the newspapers - and getting 10,000 responses from a circulation of 80,000 copies, a remarkable return rate.

On a scale of 10, the paper received a 7.95 satisfaction rating. Older readers were still more loyal and young, and readers were looking for reliability, quality and independent analysis.