HONG KONG, 1 June 2004 -- Moving toward a unified set of XML-based standards for the news industry, members of the International Press telecommunications Council gave preliminary approval to a streamlined method of sharing radio and television programming information.

ProgramGuideML, an initiative of IPTC's Japanese members, will allow news agencies to disseminate TV and radio listings quickly and accurately. Several European news agencies told of plans to use ProgramGuideML.

At its annual general meeting here, IPTC members also approved draft documentation of NewsML, a method for packaging and sharing multimedia files either alone or in bundles. As the "envelope" for multimedia files, NewsML can be used with other IPTC standards such as SportsML, or with any other types of files. The new documentation will give guidance to programmers and engineers as they design computer systems that gather and disseminate news items.

Members also re-elected IPTC's board of directors, including chairman Dr. John Iobst of the Newspaper Association of America. Dr. Iobst is active in many XML projects both inside and outside IPTC, including the AdsML initiative for newspapers and print advertisers.

Meanwhile, IPTC and The Newspaper Association of America will hold a special information session at Nexpo 2004 to explain the latest XML technologies to newspaper editors and system managers. Nexpo 2004, North America's largest trade show for the newspaper industry, will be held in Washington, D.C., 19 to 22 June 2004.

The next regular meeting of the IPTC will be in Amsterdam, 6 to 8 October 2004.