Online service brings news to the ‘last-minute generation’ with launch of ‘What The Papers Say’

Who: What The Papers Say
What: Launches a one-stop guide to Britain’s daily rags
Why: To bring news to people who don’t have time to read the papers every day
Where: www.wtps.co.uk / www.WhatThePapersSay.co.uk
When: 18 April 2000

Hold the front page! An internet service, What The Papers Say, has been launched today to bring the best of the day’s news from the national press to people who just don’t have time to read the papers every morning. From quirky human-interest stories to world-shaking political news, WTPS features all the stories that people will be talking about. It is available from the website (www.wtps.co.uk) or via a free morning email bulletin to subscribers.

What the Papers Say has been developed to satisfy the needs of the new generation of workers whose lifestyles no longer fit with daily print newspapers. What The Papers Say focuses on the people behind the headlines, using a simple who-what-where-when approach to give readers a quick view of the day's news. For a deeper look, there are links straight to the source, whether it is a broadsheet leader or a tabloid scandal.

The site is driven by the wide-ranging interests of its readers: news stories are collated and ranked according to their popularity. So far, the figure who has stirred up the most discussion amongst the pilot email subscribers is Ken Livingstone. However, the outright winners in terms of interest for a single story are The SimpsonsÔ.

Creative director, Jon, comments, "Our news is the news, it doesn't have a hidden agenda, it just exposes everyone else's. Take two minutes to read What The Papers Say and I guarantee you'll find a story you haven't read in your morning paper, heard on the radio or seen on TV. That’s because no single newspaper can give you a view of the news without pre-supposing what its readers are interested in – What The Papers Say can, and does. Just because you normally read The Times, doesn’t mean you won’t be interested in The Star’s front page story."

When visiting the WTPS website, readers also have the opportunity to create some news of their own. Newsbot is a friendly, automated news generator that allows users to develop silly, often rude and possibly libellous articles about their friends. Readers simply type in names, locations and props when prompted by the robotic writer on screen. The newsbot will then randomly generate a news story about the reader. Also available is a downloadable screen saver that makes fun headlines appear on screen (‘Angela Rippon Crushed By Cow’; ‘Lee Majors in Bus Stop Rampage Shocker). Again, this is totally customisable, allowing readers to add in the names of their boss, dog and friends, for example.

"We want a visit to WTPS to be a good all round experience for our readers," commented Daniel Rosewarne, strategic director for WTPS. "From accessing fun services like the newsbot to reading the headlines, we want visitors to our site to enjoy keeping abreast of current affairs. We’re in an excellent position to respond to the needs of our readers, and we’ve been encouraging the people on our trial version to give us their opinions on the news of the day. We’re putting together a community of people who like to respond to the news, as well as read it."

Notes to editors
Screen shots and photography are available on request from Berkeley PR

About inframes.com
inframes.com is an independent company formed by ex-Scoot developers, Jon Ewing and Daniel Rosewarne in 1999. The company is dedicated to providing creative internet technology services to webmasters and corporates whilst delivering an enjoyable and useful experience to the end-user. The company's headquarters are at: Huntingdon House, 35 Field Road, Reading, RG1 6AP.