Pagemasters, the world leader in the editorial production of fully designed, ready-to-print news pages, expands to serve U.S. newspapers

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 13, 2009) - Today's launch of Pagemasters North America provides U.S. newspapers a complete range of editorial production services from copy editing and headline writing to design and layout, available from The Canadian Press, exclusive distributor of Associated Press news in Canada. The venture is a close collaboration with Pagemasters, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian Associated Press (AAP). Pagemasters has experienced significant success and received global attention for helping newspapers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom focus on their newsgathering to improve the quality of their unique content and local coverage while relying on Pagemasters to prepare, edit and design other pages tailored to their paper's exact specifications. "We wanted to be a part of the solution to the industry's current difficulties so it was a natural choice to work with a world leader like Pagemasters to give U.S. newspapers the benefit of their expertise in significantly reducing editorial production costs," said Eric Morrison, president of The Canadian Press. "The key is the savings through greater productivity and efficiencies are not achieved by sacrificing the quality of the pages, whether they are features and supplements or news pages and 'common' pages similar across most papers such as national and world news pages." The Pagemasters model being adopted in the U.S. guarantees quality in two main ways: - Pages will be edited by North American staff on North American deadlines, adhering to U.S. language and style guidelines. This approach, instead of using offshore labour, ensures proper use of sports, political and other terms specific to American culture. - Pages will be developed in close consultation with clients, allowing pages to be highly customized and publishers to retain complete editorial control of everything from story selection to placement and treatment. Pages can be created live within the client's editorial system using advanced technology that enables clients to monitor quality throughout the process, raising the standards of accountability even higher. "With The Canadian Press' reputation for accuracy, integrity and speed and its long-standing partnership with AP, I can think of no better organization through which to capitalize on the demand for newspaper production services in North America," said AAP chief executive Clive Marshall. "Pagemasters has experienced extraordinary growth over the past few years as more newspapers outsourced their editorial production. The launch of Pagemasters North America will enable us to capitalize on the high level of interest that we have received in Pagemasters' services from newspapers in both the U.S. and Canada - the largest English language newspaper market in the world." Pagemasters managing director Bruce Davidson adds: "We will be heavily involved with The Canadian Press in setting up its editorial production centres in North America, working closely with newspaper publishers as they grapple with the radical changes sweeping our industry." Mr. Davidson and Mr. Morrison are already scheduled this month to meet with U.S. publishers interested in learning more about Pagemasters North America, and will be available for additional meeting requests made via Sharon Hockin at 1+416-507-2137 or sharon.hockin@thecanadianpress.com. About The Canadian Press The Canadian Press is Canada's most trusted news source and leader in providing real-time, bilingual multimedia content for online, mobile and emerging platforms. More than 250 journalists deliver news stories, photos, graphics, audio and online video, plus news coverage from The Associated Press, to daily newspapers, radio and TV stations and websites. Members and clients depend on The Canadian Press for reliable, accurate and fast coverage, written and edited according to the standards set by The Canadian Press Stylebook and The Associated Press Stylebook. For over 90 years, its journalists have reported news round the clock, from coast to coast and around the world, in English and French. The establishment of Pagemasters North America as a wholly owned subsidiary of The Canadian Press builds upon the agency's current experience paginating financial and sports data for Canadian daily newspapers such as The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. www.thecanadianpress.com About Pagemasters Pagemasters leads the world in the establishment and operation of centralized sub-editing centres for the newspaper and magazine industry. Its operations in Australia and New Zealand provide complete design, editing and production services for a range of metropolitan, regional and community newspapers. Pagemasters produces more than 10,000 editorial pages a month. Customers include the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age in Melbourne, The New Zealand Herald, and London's Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. Formed in 1991, the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian Associated Press, the national news agency of Australia. www.pagemasters.com.au About Australian Associated Press (AAP) AAP is the national news agency of Australia; it employs more than 600 people and provides a comprehensive Australian and international news service to the Australian media, business sectors and beyond - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Virtually all of Australia's newspaper and broadcast media subscribe to AAP news services. http://aap.com.au