PR Newswire and Ascend Media Form Distribution Partnership
PR Newswire to Augment Ascend Media's Publication Websites With Direct News Feeds
PRNewswire
NEW YORK

Visitors to the websites of 38 Ascend Media publications covering the medical, dental, gaming and food & beverage sectors, will now have direct access to news releases issued by PR Newswire members, the two companies announced today.

  (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000306/PRNLOGO
          http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060522/NYM031LOGO )

Key publication sites to feature news releases from PR Newswire's members will include The American Journal of Managed Care, Surgical Rounds, Contemporary Dental Assisting, Dairy Field and Brand Packaging. In total, the websites that will carry the PR Newswire feed attract approximately 400,000 unique visitors per month.

"The breadth of Ascend Media's publication offerings and its targeted readership provide a unique opportunity for PR Newswire to extend the reach of our members' news to an audience that is keenly interested in timely, actionable information," said Dave Armon, chief operating officer for PR Newswire. "PR Newswire will create customized news feeds using keywords based on the publication's industry focus. In doing so, we will help to augment the content of each publication site by providing current news that is highly relevant to the reader."

News releases will be filtered and sorted so that only news releases pertinent to the topic of each Ascend Media publication are displayed on the individual publication's web site. This ensures that visitors to the web site have access to breaking news of importance to their industry.

Howard Roth, vice president eMedia for Ascend Media added, "We partnered with PR Newswire because of the volume of their news releases and our positive experience with their customer service efforts. Traffic patterns on our sites have shown that visitors consider news releases to be a legitimate and valuable source of information. As a result, we've placed the PR Newswire feed for each of our subject areas on the home pages of the sites, in line with our news coverage. In partnering with PR Newswire, we are now able to provide our readers with breaking news from business leaders in their respective markets."

About PR Newswire Association LLC

Now in its 52nd year, PR Newswire Association LLC (http://www.prnewswire.com/) provides electronic distribution, targeting, measurement and broadcast services on behalf of some 40,000 corporate, government, association, labor, non-profit, and other customers worldwide. Using PR Newswire, these organizations reach a variety of critical audiences including the news media, the investment community, government decision-makers, and the general public with their up-to-the-minute, full-text news developments.

Established in 1954, PR Newswire has offices in 11 countries and routinely sends its customers' news to outlets in 135 countries and in more than 40 languages. Utilizing the latest in communications technology, PR Newswire content is considered a mainstay among news reporters, investors and individuals who seek breaking news from the source. PR Newswire's leading services include ProfNet Experts(SM), eWatch™, MEDIAtlas™, Search Engine Visibility (SEV), MediaRoom, MediaSense™ and MultiVu™. PR Newswire is a subsidiary of United Business Media plc of London.

About Ascend Media, LLC

Ascend Media is a diversified business media organization. It owns and operates professional magazines and journals; organizes trade shows, conferences and educational programs; and maintains online properties and databases serving the medical, healthcare and professional services industries. In the medical and allied healthcare industries, the company publishes more than 30 journals and magazines and serves more than 40 medical associations with daily newspapers, directories and marketing programs, as well as organizes continuing medical education programs and symposia. Ascend Media also operates a diversified professional services group, focused on providing event-related publishing in partnership with leading trade associations, as well as delivering more than 20 publications and events for the food, beverage, packaging, trade show, professional audio/video and gaming industries. Ascend Media was formed and incorporated in 2002 by Cameron Bishop, Dan Altman and Ron Wall, business-to-business industry veterans with a combined 80 years of industry experience. The company is financially backed by two of the world's most prestigious private equity firms, J.P. Morgan Partners and Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Ascend Media is headquartered in Overland Park, KS. For additional information: http://www.ascendmedia.com/.

Contact:

Rachel Meranus, Director, Public Relations, PR Newswire at 212.282.1929 or rachel.meranus@prnewswire.com

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000306/PRNLOGO
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060522/NYM031LOGO
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SOURCE: PR Newswire Association LLC; Ascend Media, LLC

CONTACT: Rachel Meranus, Director, Public Relations of PR Newswire, +1-
212-282-1929, rachel.meranus@prnewswire.com