The international standard is being developed by NAA and the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). This standard will eventually replace the current text format used by the world's news wire services.

"This new format sets the stage for exchange of news in the next generation of the information age," said Eric Wolferman, NAA senior vice president/technology. "It allows news text and tabular material to be used easily by many different computer systems and for many different purposes. Ultimately it lays the foundation for uniform processing of other data types, such as digitized sound and images."

The new format is based on Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) technology, which is designed to allow the same information to be used by different media. For example, text prepared by wire services could be used by newspapers for printed products as well as online services without substantial reformatting.

Standards for the transmission of news data are the result of the Wire Service Guidelines Subcommittee of NAA and the IPTC, of which NAA is a founding member.

President Bill Clinton, as well as leaders from England, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan, are attending the G7 Summit.

NAA is a non-profit organization representing more than 1,500 newspapers in the United States and Canada. Headquartered in Reston, Va., with offices in Washington, New York, Detroit and Chicago, the Association focuses on five key strategic priorities affecting newspapers: marketing, public policy, diversity, industry development and newspaper operations. The majority of NAA members are daily newspapers which account for approximately 85 percent of the U.S. daily circulation.

The International Press Telecommunications Council is also a non-profit organization with headquarters in Windsor, England, and represents the world's major news services and other news organizations.