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18/01/06 - Situation 'Critical' for Talking Newspaper Service.
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TNAUK (Talking Newspaper Association UK) which records newspapers and magazines onto accessible formats for people with vision and motor impairments, including CD, DAISY, audio tape and email needs 200,000 pounds to continue its work through the year.
The organisation's chief executive Tim McDonald said mass public donation to the Asian Tsunami disaster last year had drained away 20 per cent of TNAUK's income. "The situation could become very precarious if the decline in income continues," he said.
TNAUK currently has 9,000 subscribers who pay rates in six bands ranging from 24 to 96 pounds a year depending on the number of publications received. "We can't charge more because it prices people out and the last thing we want is to exclude people that can't afford it,"
McDonald said.
TNAUK produces weekly spoken digests of most national newspapers as well as specialist magazines including Classic Buses and Astronomy Now. However, the organisation will be forced to drop some titles due to the lack of funding, McDonald said.
In future, McDonald said TNAUK wants to produce more electronic publications, particularly for mobile devices such as mp3 players. "We can go further but we are stymied by spending too much effort keeping things going."
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