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| Pictured: INSP's Executive Director Lisa Maclean with SNS Honorary Editor Tom Thomson, Group Managing Editor, The Herald & Times Group |
The Street News Service (SNS) was launched to the public last night in Glasgow's beautiful Mitchell Library. INSP's alternative online news agency is an important news source for street papers as well as media outlets and readers around the world.
SNS brings together the best content from 110 INSP street papers on all continents. Its multilingual website features stories written by street paper journalists in 40 countries. The SNS also produces quality in-house material.
The news agency promotes the best of street paper journalism worldwide on its website www.streetnewsservice.org. By republishing articles from one another free of charge, street papers strengthen each other's content. As from today, the SNS website allows a more diverse readership, including mainstream media, NGOs and government, to get access to ‘the voice on the street' in all corners of the world. Over 75 volunteer translators help to translate articles in any of the network's 24 languages. The SNS is supported by external media partners Reuters and Inter Press Service.
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| The Street News Service |
INSP's Executive Director, Lisa Maclean, about the launch: "Until now, the SNS has been a valuable editorial resource for street papers, but as the service has gone from strength to strength over the past few years, we felt it was time to make it accessible to a wider reading public. We are excited to be launching the new-look Street News Service to the public today with support from the Herald & Times Group and we hope that a growing number of people will start to make use of this exceptional resource."
Street News Service Editor, Danielle Batist says: "We are a news agency like no other on the globe. Through our street papers, we are able to provide an international audience with a unique on the ground perspective on a variety of global and local issues. We give a voice to the voiceless through street paper vendor stories and firsthand accounts of people affected by poverty and social injustice. At the same time we recognise the need for ‘lighter' stories, like inspirational interviews with celebrities. At all times, we aim to trigger something inside our readers, making them question the world around them and change their mindset towards poverty and homelessness."
What others say about the Street News Service:
"As someone who worked with vulnerable and homeless young people before I became a journalist, I strongly support the International Network of Street Papers. INSP's Street News Service adds strength and depth to the already remarkable development of street papers worldwide. This invaluable movement provides a whole other strand of news and information as well as an income opportunity for homeless people, without which, many would be still more challenged in their daily lives."
Jon Snow
Newscaster, Channel 4 News
Street News Service Patron
"I became Honorary President of the International Network of Street Papers because I truly believe in the cause: it is about people using journalism and publishing to help themselves and in so doing, help the world."
David Schlesinger
Editor In Chief, Reuters News
INSP Honorary President
"The Herald & Times Group is delighted to support the Street News Service and the admirable work done by street newspapers around the world. I am honoured to serve as Honorary Editor of this international news network. It wonderfully combines journalism with a helping hand for some of the world's neediest people."
Tom Thomson
Group Managing Editor, Herald & Times Group
Street News Service Honorary Editor
