Saturday September 13, 2003

A digital newspaper printing service that allows Australians to read newsprint versions of international publications at the same time they roll off the presses overseas was launched yesterday by the Premier of NSW, Mr Bob Carr.

"Newspapers that are written and laid up in London or New York or Paris can now be emailed to Australia and thanks to this breakthrough be printed here in real newsprint," Mr Carr said.

Surveys have shown that consumers prefer to read their news in newspapers rather than on-screen and print versions are usually 'Old news" before thay reach consumers by conventional means.

SecurityMail's new Digital Newspress 8000 printer can print up to 400 ready finished 48 page newspapers per hour. The newspaper is printed, cut, collected and folded to create a finished product without manual intervention.

"The Digital Newspaper Service is taking newspaper printing in to a new era by printing digitally on genuine newsprint so that the end result retains the look and feel of a real newspaper," said SecurityMail Managing Director, Mr Steve Sparkes.

The service will commence operations with The Guardian and the International Herald Tribune and other publications from the UK, USA and Europe will follow.