Contributors:

Whether you are an individual freelance journalist or part of a larger news agency, there are two challenges which impact everyone.

Competition - Whether you are a court reporter or a regional news agency, the pressure to cover, develop and file a story continues to increase. Whether the pressure comes from shorter deadlines, another writer, or the growth in news sources, every journalist is being forced to work faster and faster.

Editorial Selection - Developing a story is the first step. Getting published the next. Editorial teams are receiving more material daily. Not only does a story have to have the right content, it also needs to be structured appropriately to ensure that it is viewed properly within the editorial system used by a publisher.

To be effective, independent news organisations need a method to distribute their material in a way that ensures:

Speed - Being first is still one of the key ways to ensure your copy is tasted and published.

Reliability - When you entrust your copy to a communications network, you need to know at all times where your copy is. Ringing an editor to check whether material has been received hampers the process of newsgathering and distribution. Especially when selling a story in to multiple news desks.

Accuracy - You need to know that what you send is what’s received. The words are critical, not the font or the point size.

Accountability - A story is a product that has revenue potential. Therefore you need to know that your material is uniquely identified and can be traced at all times.

Publishers:

Whether a national newspaper, broadcaster, regional publication, magazine or web publisher, news organisations face tougher issues year on year:

Competition - Publishers are communicating into an increasingly noisy market seemingly working harder to maintain a share of the target audience’s attention and spend.

Content - To support increasing numbers of regional or local editions, supplements and special interest reports, editorial need a constant supply of high quality content to fill and make relevant their publications.

A news publisher or broadcaster needs to ensure that their content providers meet a number of demanding criteria:

Fast - Receiving material as soon as it breaks is essential. Receiving sports reports close to deadlines.

Reliable - When a contributor sends a story, an Editor needs to see it 100% of the time within minutes, preferably within seconds.

Accurate - Who is the source, can quotes be attributed.

Accountable - Where has a story come from, are they bona fide journalists, who is responsible for getting the story from contributor to publisher. Close to deadlines, an editorial team need copy which is easily edited and input to page makeup. The need to transcribe faxes or re-format email attachments slows the production process and adds invisible cost to the business. With a background of constant budget focus, news collection has to be efficient and effective.

The Solution is the same:

Newslink has consistently satisfied these needs whilst adopting some technologies more enthusiastically than others. This pragmatic attitude to technology ensures that Newslink remains: Fast - Many of the key newsrooms are directly connected to Newslink. Stories are delivered to these publishers and broadcasters within seconds.

Reliable - All of the equipment within our service is duplicated in the event of hardware failure.

Accurate - Editorial systems differ. Newslink is compatible with ALL of them. For that reason we can guarantee that copy is delivered directly into the editorial tasting queues in exactly the format an editor needs to see it.

Accountable - There are Newslink staff available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please call for any urgent queries. Each story is assigned a unique reference number and is archived for more than 7 years.

Cost Effective - Newslink enables freelance and agency copy to be received directly into the pre-press editorial environment without the need to re-key faxes or provide technical support to journalists filing directly. The savings in time, operational cost and capital have been proved over a number of years.

Newslink is a wire service for news publishers and broadcasters. If you want freelance and agency material managed and delivered alongside feeds such as Reuters and PA, Newslink is the only choice.