DTI Backs Project To Assist Publishers On The Net

The Department of Trade and Industry has agreed to give its support to enable a £250,000 joint project to go-ahead which will assist newspapers and magazines to develop electronic publishers.

Mediabase UK is to be developed jointly by printing and publishing industry research body PIRA International, together with the Newspaper Society and the Periodical Publisher’s Association.

Mediabase UK will be developed as a communications and information site to help build the competitiveness of magazines and newspapers in an electronic environment. The site will establish best practice in electronic publishing and within the site publishers will be able to find practical advice, review examples and retrieve templates for publishing projects.

A further development will be an export database for publishers to assist in overseas marketing programmes as part of the DTI export initiative. Robert Minio, of PIRA, said, “This project is a long overdue initiative to assist the essential development of UK publishing into new electronic media.”