Kalends.com: covers six main areas
International news agency Reuters has entered the future events market with a dedicated team of journalists providing stories to run alongside a diary listing service.
The news organisation, which has 2,500 journalists and 190 bureaux worldwide, has drawn together a database to supply diary information on key events around the world.
Seven journalists will be supplying future news stories for the Kalends service, which can be found at www.kalends.com and covers six main areas. Specialist journalists have been assigned to cover finance, sport, entertainment, and general news.
Diary information on conferences and market and public holidays will also be supplied.
Editor of the news operation is Simon Haydon, a Reuters journalist for 19 years, who has covered foreign news, sports and economics for the agency. He is joined by a Bill Rosato, a Reuters colleague who has been appointed news editor.
Haydon said: "This is a great change, and I have had lots to learn in the year I have been working on setting up Kalends. We hope that we will be filling a gap. Most news organisations, including Reuters, focus on past and present events.
"But we are dealing with things that are five to six days or three months ahead. We are basically trying to help our readers make a decision about what’s coming up, but we also want to have an edge, and keep to the basic rules of balance and accuracy."
Reuters’ news and data gathering operation will be a major supplier of information for the service. Deals have also been set up with five other forward planning services including Future Events News Service, which will provide details on upcoming events in politics, TSNN which will supply information on worldwide conferences, and Dynamic Listings, covering UK entertainment.
Information will be available in three packages, through desktop applications or corporate websites, as well as kalends.com, which will supply free information on future events from sport, entertainment and general interest.
Chief executive Rupert Miles said Kalends was "unlocking a Reuters hidden asset".
"We have established a powerful database that can help Reuters clients identify and anticipate events around the world that impact them," he said.
"Our ambition is to develop Kalends into a brand that’s recognised as a definitive source of future event information."
By Julie Tomlin
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