NewsML is an XML based, media independent, structural framework for news. It is capable of representing news in all the various stages of its lifecycle in an electronic service environment - e.g.

• in and between editorial systems;
• between wire service providers and media clients;
• between original publishers and aggregators / syndicators;
• between news service providers and ultimate consumers of news.

NewsML is intended for use in electronic news production, archiving and delivery and as such does not specifically set out to meet the needs of paper-based news publishing. It is intended that NewsML is able to include features required for paper-based publishing and other specific production environments by including external definitions designed for this purpose.

NewsML is not necessarily intended as a format for editing or creation of news, though it is intended as the basis for such formats. It is recognised that the specific demands of individual organizations and production systems will require proprietary extensions to the base NewsML to be effective in this role.