New Directions for News combines with API's Media Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Reston, VA --New Directions for News, an independent media research think tank,
has combined operations with The Media Center, a division of the American Press
Institute (API).

An agreement between the two organizations creates a leading research and training
institute on the issues shaping change, innovation and strategies impacting
the future of news, information and media.

The combined organization, The Media Center/NDN, expands the research agenda
and training programs that have been conducted by both organizations. Programs
include seminars, symposia and strategic planning initiatives.

Andrew Nachison, director of The Media Center since 2000, remains director
of the combined organization. Dale Peskin, executive director of New Directions
for News since 2001, becomes co-director of The Media Center/NDN.

"NDN and The Media Center are widely known for their pioneering work aimed
at helping news companies seek new opportunities and adapt to social and technological
changes," said William L. Winter, Ph.D., President and Executive Director of
API. "It makes great sense to bring them together to build a combined portfolio
of research and professional training that will benefit news organizations around
the world."

Both organizations were founded with support from the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

Created in 1997, The Media Center operates training programs that have
attracted a global audience of media professionals and senior executives interested
in best practices and the state-of-the-art in online publishing and the joining
-- or "convergence" -- of print, broadcast and online news and information.

Upcoming seminars include study tours focused on media convergence and Internet
revenue, and master classes on digital story-telling and Internet advertising.
The Media Center also publishes a weekly e-mail newsletter and maintains the
U.S. Convergence Tracker, an online database of local partnerships and alliances
between print, broadcast and online news providers.

"Our seminars will be enhanced by NDN's research capabilities, and our research
agenda will be strengthened by The Media Center's engagement with media leaders
around the world," Nachison said. "Our aim is to help society by encouraging
and enabling better media and information services -- and the combination of
our two organizations makes us stronger and more likely to achieve that goal."

New Directions for News was founded at the University of Missouri n 1987 by
Jean Gaddy Wilson to identify change and to provide new directions for the new
industry. The think-tank forecasted changes in society and technology including
the role of women and minorities and their impact on content, the coming integration
of media, and the emergence of the Internet. The business plan for the first
online newspaper was developed at an NDN symposium in the early 90s.

For the past four years, NDN has been affiliated with the Institute for New
Media Studies and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University
of Minnesota. The affiliation will continue, along with The Media Center's alliance
with Ifra's Newsplex at the University of South Carolina and relationships with
several publishing industry groups, including the Newspaper Association of America,
Online Publishers Association and the Online News Association.

"Our combined organization has a rare chance to lead the world's media in gaining
insight and guidance on the future role and use of news, information and media,"
said Mindi Keirnan, chair of the NDN board and the retired senior vice president/general
manager of the San Jose Mercury News. "We will rely on our deep heritage of
always exploring these critical issues from the users' point of view."

NDN projects will continue as part of The Media Center/NDN. They include: audience-based
insight and analysis of the forces shaping change in media; the impact and emergence
of contributory media; research on quality as a tangible asset of news; scenario
planning for media executives; and emerging economic and news models. NDN has
a global research network.

Other major sources of funding of the combined organization include the John
S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the Ethics
and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the Pulitzer Foundation and Hearst,
Cox and Scripps Howard newspapers.

"The affiliation creates an organization with unique and comprehensive resources
to address the changes reshaping media and society," said Peskin, a former editor
and former executive at Belo, the Dallas-based media company.

To learn more about upcoming seminars, research and services of The Media Center/NDN,
visit: href="http://www.mediacenter.org/">www.mediacenter.org and www.ndn.org

About The Media Center/NDN at the American Press Institute

The American Press Institute was formed by newspaper publishers in 1946 to
develop leadership, management and skills training for the news industry. The
not-for-profit Institute offers more than 35 seminars annually. It also conducts
training online and creates tailored on-site programs for individual companies.
The Media Center/NDN at API provides comprehensive programming focused on Internet
publishing, media convergence and the future of news. Through study tours, master
classes, seminars, research, publications and private engagements with individual
companies, The Media Center/NDN assists professionals in developing strategies,
content, revenue and processes for the delivery of information on any platform.
The Media Center focuses on the creative and strategic challenges of conceiving,
gathering, packaging and delivering digital, multimedia news and information.
The Media Center also has organized groundbreaking seminars on the First Amendment
in cyberspace, online classifieds, media convergence, journalism integrity in
the information age and data standards for news content - an effort that spawned
the development of News Markup Language. The Media Center/NDN publishes the
online journal CyberJournalist.net and maintains the U.S. Convergence Tracker,
an online database of local partnerships and alliances between print, broadcast
and online news providers. For more about The Media Center, go to: href="http://www.mediacenter.org/">www.mediacenter.org

For more information contact:

The Media Center/NDN Director Andrew Nachison at anachison@americanpressinstitute.org

The Media Center/NDN Co-Director Dale Peskin at dpeskin@americanpressinstitute.org

Media Contact:

Gloria Pan

Communications Manager

American Press Institute

11690 Sunrise Valley Drive

Reston, VA 20191-1498

(703) 620-3611

gpan@americanpressinstitute.org