SAN DIEGO, USA, 9 March 2005 -- The International Press Telecommunications Committee has announced deeply discounted membership fees for new members who are based in economically distressed countries, and for educators and certain consultants. One goal is to increase IPTC membership in Africa, South America and Asia, and among universities.

The announcement was made at the IPTC's regular meeting in San Diego last week, where delegates from the world's news agencies and news system vendors met to develop technical standards for the exchange of news and information.

The special membership rates are offered on a case-by-case basis, after a review by the IPTC's Management Committee. Currently, IPTC has 53 full and associate members, with several hundred participants on its Internet-based discussion boards.

During the San Diego sessions, delegates continued development of updated XML-based markups for news, including specialized content such as event calendars and sports. The committee's development of NewsML 2 remains on track; this standard wrapper for news, photos, graphics, audio and video will provide a single method for describing and routing news items while remaining compatible with standard XML tools.

Members also heard details of the News Standards Summit in Amsterdam on 24 May 2005. The event is co-hosted by the IPTC, and highlights will include case studies of how IPTC's standards are used by news agencies around the world. Attendees will have a chance to talk directly with some of the delegates who help develop IPTC's standards.

In the United States on 21 March, attendees at the Nexpo Newspaper trade show in Dallas will have a chance to discuss IPTC's standards during a forum that will feature Michael Steidl, the managing director of IPTC, and Dr. John Iobst, who is retiring as chairman of the IPTC. Other IPTC delegates will join Michael and John in an open meeting with member delegates of the Newspaper Association of America.

The next regular IPTC meeting will be held in London in June 2005.