A free online service to help journalists get the information they need from charities quickly is to be launched later this year.

Called ASK Charity, it will allow users to do a fast search for contact details and mobile phone numbers of hundreds of charities, and journalists will be able to search by issue in case they don't know the name of a specific charity.

It will also provide an Answer Service, where journalists can send out a request to a number of charities at once to help find case studies, subject specialists, stats and other information.

Devised by the Voluntary Action Media Unit, it follows research which showed that journalists are often frustrated when they try to get in touch with charities because they can't find the right number or no one picks up the phone.

The research also found that charities wish that they had more access to journalists.

A comprehensive database of charity media contacts is currently being set up, and the service is due to launch on November 1.

For more information visit www.vamu.org.uk.