The service, which has been quietly operating in Australia for several months now, is part of the Canada-based NewspaperDirect family, which operates in 66 including three offices in Australia – Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with Perth, Adelaide and Alice Springs soon to follow suit.

David Lewis, NewspaperDirect Australia managing director, says, “NewspaperDirect will allow all Australians access to today’s edition of international newspapers and let many who call Australia home to stay in touch with home news”.

Using a number of Konica Minolta 7165 digital printers, NewspaperDirect is able to supply 186 newspaper titles, from over 40 countries and in more than 25 languages for distribution at selected newsagencies and hotels. Some of these newspapers include The New York Times, USA Today, La Stampa, Clarin, El Pais, The Guardian, China Daily, Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeit, Washington Post, Daily Mirror, Le Monde, Dominion Post, Der Standard, Manila Times, and many others.

All newspapers are exact reproductions of the original printed editions with everything included from the advertisements to the classified section.

Williams says he is very impressed with the service, and was at the company’s Melbourne headquarters to officiate at the official opening on March 5.

“When radio was invented, we were told that it would kill newspapers. When television arrived, we were told the same thing. What I find interesting is that we were also told this when the internet was invented, but here is an interesting use of the internet to produce and distribute newspapers,” says Williams.

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