Augusta, Ga. - Morris Communications has become the first American news organization to join in the worldwide initiative to develop a prototype multiple-media newsroom called "Newsplex." The model facility will be built on the campus of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, in conjunction with South Carolina Educational Television. Project originator and director is Ifra, the world's leading association for media publishing.

Newsplex, designed by Ifra "to advance the next generation of journalism and technology," will be a $1.5 million, "beyond-the-state-of-the-art" news facility used for demonstration, education, training and research in cross-media news-handling for the emerging, convergent news industry.

"We are convinced that media convergence is no longer a strategy, but an inevitability. We are proud to lead the country in joining Ifra as it develops its vision of tomorrow's convergent newsroom," said Will Morris, president of Morris Communications. "We expect our employees and customers to experience tremendous benefit from our participation."

As a contributor to the project, Morris Communications will receive a permanent seat on the Newsplex Directorate, an industry-academic consortium advising the facility's programs and directing its priorities. Directorate members also will receive preferential unlimited access to Newsplex training and support services.

Morris joins many of the world's most forward-thinking media and media-technology companies on the Newsplex Directorate. Other directorate members are Digital Technology International (USA); Edipresse Groupe (Switzerland); South Carolina ETV (USA); Jyllands-Posten (Denmark); GuardianMedia Group Regional Newspapers (UK); CCI Europe (Denmark); The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (USA); IMPRESA (Portugal); Archronica Architects (USA); and Star Publications (Malaysia)."

The Newsplex also is supported by an international affiliation of leading journalism training and education institutions that have agreed to coordinate their research and curricula around the project. Newsplex affiliates include the University of Tampere Journalism Research and Development Centre (Finland); the University of Minnesota Institute for New Media Studies and New Directions for News program (USA); the World Editors Forum (France); the European Journalism Centre (Netherlands); the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Media Technology and Graphic Arts (Sweden); Nanyang Technological University (Singapore); the University of Hong Kong Journalism and Media Studies Centre; the Centre de Formation et de Perfectionnement des Journalistes (France); the University of Navarra (Spain); and The Media Center at the American Press Institute (USA).

Morris Communications is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include newspaper and magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, radio broadcasting, book publishing and distribution, and computer services. For more information see the company's Web site at www.morris.com. For more information about the Newsplex project, contact the Ifra NewsOps Centre at newsplex@newsops.org.