8-K

                           UNITED STATES
               SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                     WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549


                            Form 8-K

                         CURRENT REPORT

               Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of
               The Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): December 20, 2002

                      COMTEX NEWS NETWORK, INC.
     (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

       New York                     0-10541              13-3055012
(State or other jurisdiction  (Commission File No.)  (I.R.S. Employer
      of incorporation)                              Identification No.)




Registrant's telephone number, including area code:  (703) 820-2000



                       Not Applicable
  (Former name or former address, if changed since last report)



Item 5.        Other Events.

      On  December 20, 2002, Comtex News Network, Inc.  issued  a
press release announcing that Stephen W. Ellis has been appointed
to  the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective
immediately.   Dr.  C.W. Gilluly, who served  as  Chairman  since
1992, will become Vice Chairman.  A copy of the press release  is
attached  hereto as Exhibit 99.1, and is incorporated  herein  by
reference.


Item 7.        Exhibits.

Exhibit 99.1    Press  Release, dated December 20, 2002, entitled
               "Stephen W. Ellis Named Chairman of Comtex."


                        SIGNATURE

                                   COMTEX NEWS NETWORK, INC.


DATE:  December 20, 2002           By:  /s/ Charles W. Terry
                                   Charles W. Terry
                                   President and Chief Executive Officer

EX-99.1

                         NEWS RELEASE

                              Release:  IMMEDIATE
                              For:      COMTEX News Network, Inc.
Contact:  Amber Gordon                  (Symbol: CMTX)
          703-820-2000

            STEPHEN W. ELLIS NAMED CHAIRMAN OF COMTEX

ALEXANDRIA, VA, December 20, 2002 - COMTEX News Network, Inc.
(OTC BB: CMTX), a business-to-business provider of real-time news
and content solutions, today announced that Stephen W. Ellis has
been appointed to the position of Chairman of the Board of
Directors, effective immediately.  Dr. C.W. Gilluly, who
introduced Mr. Ellis to the Company and proposed his selection as
the new Chairman, will become Vice Chairman.  Dr. Gilluly served
as Chairman of the Company since 1992.

     "Comtex is the premier provider of real-time news in its
market niche.  I am pleased to become the Company's Chairman and
look forward to expanding the scope of its strategic plans and
operations," said Mr. Ellis.

     Mr. Ellis, 52, became a director of the Company in October
2002.  He is a private investor specializing in information
technology, financial services, and electronic market data firms.
In addition to his investment activities, he has frequently
served as an interim senior executive for developing companies in
these same industries.  Mr. Ellis is also currently President of
Bolenka Games Online, a private firm in the online skilled game
sector.  Prior to this, he also served as Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of GFI Group, Inc., one of
the world's leading privately-held credit, equity, energy and
foreign exchange derivatives brokerage firms.  In addition, Mr.
Ellis was Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and a
Director of HotJobs.com, where he organized the full-scale launch
of the company and led its 1999 initial public stock offering and
follow-on offerings.  Other prior positions include Senior Vice
President of Finance and Operation at Biztravel.com and Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of Metromedia Fiber
Network, Inc.  Mr. Ellis graduated from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology with a BS and a BSEE, and received his
MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.  He is also a
certified public accountant.

     COMTEX News Network, Inc is a leading real-time news
aggregator and distributor reaching millions of readers through
more than 1,000 websites and applications throughout the world.
COMTEX is a one-stop shop for real-time news and content products
used in applications serving the needs of the financial services
industry, individual and institutional investors, corporate
information markets, consumer websites and government and
association markets. COMTEX maximizes publisher value for more
than 70 of the most recognized news agencies in the world by
increasing their reach into high value applications and by
generating additional revenue. COMTEX utilizes more than 20 years
of news aggregation and distribution expertise and market-leading
technology to enhance each customer's business model.
Headquartered in Alexandria, VA, COMTEX can be found on the Web
at http://www.comtexnews.net. COMTEX News Network, Inc. (OTCBB:
CMTX) is a leading business-to-business provider of real-time
news and content solutions.  COMTEX enhances news received from
its worldwide network of news publishers, and delivers it to a
large network of business information distributors, who serve the
financial services, individual and institutional investor;
wireless; and corporate information markets.  COMTEX uses
internally developed technology to process, generally in less
than 5 seconds, more than 20,000 real-time news stories each day
from approximately 70 newswire services and other publishers.
COMTEX' unique and uniform processing allows its customers to
more effectively select and utilize the content in their products
and services. Processing includes, for each news story,
conversion to NewsML, an industry standard format, and indexing
by category, keyword and ticker symbol.  Located in Alexandria,
VA, COMTEX can be found on the World Wide Web at
http://www.comtexnews.net

Please note:  Except for the historical information contained
herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange
Act of 1934, as amended, that involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may be identified
by reference to a future period by use of forward-looking
terminology such as "anticipate," "expect," "could," "intend,"
"may" and other words of a similar nature. These statements
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those contemplated herein, including
the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances relating
to the fact that COMTEX is in a highly competitive industry
subject to rapid technological, product and price changes. Other
factors include the possibility that demand for the Company's
products may not occur or continue at sufficient levels, changing
global economic and competitive conditions, technological risks
and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in
the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. COMTEX undertakes no obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
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