A news service dedicated to community and voluntary organisations was launched yesterday.

Intended to bring more exposure to news in and around the sector, The Community Newswire will deliver around 20 stories a day direct to the desktops of journalists at regional press and broadcast news organisations in England using The Press Association’s wire.

The Community Newswire is the result of a partnership between The Press Association and the Media Trust, and has been funded with £500,000 over two years from the Active Community Unit within the Home Office.

Speaking at the launch, the Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "For citizens to participate fully in their communities and in our democratic society, they need to be able to engage with the media to make their voices heard. The Community Newswire, an innovative and very welcome idea, will make an enormous contribution to this.

"I hope that all voluntary groups will take advantage of this service and I encourage media organisations to increase their coverage of community activities by using it."

Anyone can access the stories. For those not signed up to the newswire, the stories are available on both the Press Association and Community Newswire websites: www.pamediapoint.press.net and www.communitynewswire.org