News Sources :: Library Resources for Communication Studies

Library Resources for Communication Studies

News Sources

Introduction

This guide is aimed at locating current and historical news sources: daily and weekly newspapers and electronic media. It includes annual directories of news media, directories or catalogs for library holdings of historical newspapers, licensed databases which have digitized news content, and web directories to news media websites.

Icon Key: = Paid access = Free access = Available electronically = Available in print

Annual Directories of News Media

Benn’s Media, Tonbridge, Kent: Benn Business Information Services, 1993-. ISSN 0968-4557
Published under various names since 1846, includes listings of newspapers and broadcast media around the world. There is a special emphasis on the United Kingdom in one volume; other volumes on Europe and The World.

Bowker’s News Media Directory, New Providence, N.J.: Bowker, 2003-. ISSN 0000-1783
Previously known as Working Press of the Nation (1947-2002). Focus is entirely on the U.S., with three annual volumes: Newspapers (daily, weekly and specialized, plus newspapers and features syndicates); Magazines and Newsletters; and TV and Radio (including broadcast and cable networks as well as individual stations. Extensive indexes.

Editor and Publisher International Year Book, New York: Editor & Publisher Co., 1959-. ISSN 0424-4823
Aims for complete listings of U.S. daily and weekly newspapers; also listings for dailies in Canada and the rest of the world. From 1920-1958 was a section of Editor and Publisher. Also available online.

Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media. Detroit: Gale, 1990-. ISSN 1048-7972.
Includes U.S. and Canadian newspapers, radio and television stations, and cable systems. Under previous titles has published continuously since 1869. Current directory also available online.
Vendor site: http://www.galegroup.com/

International Media Guide: Newspapers worldwide. New York, NY: Directories International, 1983- . ISSN 1070-3195
Lists more than 1700 international newspapers outside the United States, followed by listings by region, country and city. Also available online.

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Library Holdings of Newspaper Collections

American newspapers, 1821-1936: A union list of files available in the United States and Canada, New York: Wilson, 1937; repr. New York, Kraus, 1967.
Arranged by state/province and city, with detailed holdings statements for each library included.

Foreign Newspapers Held by the Center for Research Libraries, compiled by Kristene Smets and Adriana Pilecky-Dekajlo. Chicago: Center for Research Libraries, 1992. 2 v. ISBN 0932486401
Lists more than 5500 newspapers from 156 countries, published from 1600 to 1990.

Newspaper Title Directory (from the Library of Congress' Chronicling America) Free Access Available electronically
http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/search_directory_advanced.html
Updates the United States Newspaper Program National Union List, Dublin, Ohio: OCLC, 1999, 5th edition. ISBN 1556532814
Originally a microfiche product of based on a cooperative national effort among the states and the federal government to locate, catalog, and preserve on microfilm newspapers published in the United States from the eighteenth century to the present. Includes bibliographic, location and holdings information is derived from the collections of newspaper repositories--libraries, archives, and historical societies--that participate in the Program. Expanded and superseded in March 2007 (in BETA) as part of Chronicling America, a joint project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Vendor site: http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/index.html

Newspapers in microform: United States, 1948-1983, Washington: Library of Congress, 1984. ISSN 0192-124X 0097-9627
Newspapers in microform: foreign countries, 1948-1983, Washington: Library of Congress, 1984. ISSN 0192-1231 0097-9627
Both provide union lists of holdings in U.S. libraries.

Also use the two major online library union catalogs, both of which provide basic information on titles and beginning dates, though it is frequently necessary to consult the individual library catalog for detailed holdings.

OCLC World Cat Paid Access Available electronically Free Access
Holdings reported from more than 12,000 OCLC affiliated libraries worldwide: academic, public, governmental, private. Provides basic information on titles and beginning dates, though it is frequently necessary to consult the individual library catalog for detailed holdings. In 2006 absorbed the RLG Union Catalog. Available by subscription and also free as the Open WorldCat
Vendor site: http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/default.htm

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Aggregated News Sources

Note: Most of these databases can be searched collectively or limited to specific publications.

19th Century US Newspapers Paid Access Available electronically
Dates of coverage vary Includes page images of several hundred newspapers in all states. Largely limited to the 19th century, though some titles extend a few years into the 20th. Dates of coverage range from scattered months to many years. Little overlap with the comparable America's Historical Newspapers.
Vendor site: http://www.gale.com/

Access World News Paid Access Available electronically Dates vary. More than 1500 news sources on countries worldwide, including 650 in the U.S. Largely newspapers for the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, other English-speaking countries. For the rest of the world mostly wire services and BBC newspaper digests. From Newsbank.
Vendor site: http://www.newsbank.com

Alt-Press Watch Paid Access Available electronically
1995-present. Full text database of newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press. Provides a valuable new source of coverage, viewpoints and perspectives to complement and challenge the coverage of the mainstream media.
Vendor site: http://proquest.com

America's Historical Newspapers. 1690-1922 Paid Access Available electronically
Page images of more than 1300 newspapers from all 50 states. Previously known as Early American Newspapers, and based on the microfilm collection of the same name. Some titles include many decades of coverage, others only a few issues. Part of the Readex Archive of Americana digital collection. Little overlap with the comparable 19th Century US Newspapers Digital Archive.
Vendor site: http://www.newsbankonline.com/readex

Ethnic NewsWatch Paid Access Available electronically
1960-present. Full text U.S. ethnic community newspapers, newsletters, magazines. Includes African-American, Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian-Pacific, European-American, Hispanic, Jewish, Native-American. Searchable in English and Spanish.
Vendor site: http://proquest.com

Factiva Paid Access Available electronically
Dates of coverage vary Provides a single point of access to a deep archive of news and business information from over 8,000 sources in 22 languages, including local, national and international newspapers, leading business magazines, trade publications, and newswires. Company analysis with access to historical market data, interactive charting, financial statements, and company reports from D&B and Investext. Continuously updated.
Vendor site: http://www.factiva.com

Global NewsBank Paid Access Available electronically
Full text of translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspaper and periodical articles, and government documents from around the world.
Vendor site: http://www.newsbank.com

Infotrac Custom Newspapers Paid Access Available electronically
Full text of US and international newspapers. Dates of coverage vary, generally from mid- to late 1990s to present.
Vendor site: http://www.galegroup.com/

Latin America Data Base (LADB) Paid Access Available electronically
Searchable full text database of weekly newsletters covering Latin American political and economic affairs, 1986-present. Current titles are NotiSur (South America), SourceMex (Mexico), NotiCen (Central America).
Vendor site: http://ladb.unm.edu

LexisNexis Academic Paid Access Available electronically
Thousands of full text sources including newspapers, wires, transcripts, newsletters, magazines, trade journals; also company information, law reviews, court decisions. Coverage dates vary. Former name: Academic Universe.
Vendor site: http://web.lexisnexis.com

PaperofRecord.com Free Access Available electronically
Database began with rapid digitizing of the historical microfilm archives of Canadian newspapers, 19th and 20th centuries. Branched out into extensive coverage of Mexico, and has begun including newspapers from other countries. Coverage ranges from many years to a few issues. Searches by one title at a time. Searches and retrieves whole pages rather than individual articles. Available for free individual registration and password; not currently offered on an institutional basis.
Vendor site: http://paperofrecord.com

Proquest Historical Newspapers Paid Access Available electronically
full text and full image articles for newspapers dating back to the first issues in the 19th century and extending (depending on the title) to the 1980s, 1990s or early 2000s. For most titles, the collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue--cover to cover--in downloadable PDF® files. This ongoing project has already completed The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Christian Science Monitor. The Los Angeles Times is nearing completion of the digitization process, and other newspapers are expected to follow.
Vendor site: http://proquest.com

Proquest Newspapers Paid Access Available electronically
1986-present. Digitized content from hundreds of daily newspapers, including state, regional, national, and international titles (including more current portions of the Proquest Historical Newspaper titles). Subscribers can customize the titles selected.
Vendor site: http://proquest.com

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News Feeds & Digests

AllAfrica.com Free Access Available electronically
Online distributor of African news and information, posting over 1000 stories daily in English and French and offering a diversity of multi-lingual streaming programming as well as over 900,000 articles in our searchable archive (which includes the archive of Africa News Service dating from 1997).
Site: http://AllAfrica.com/

Foreign Broadcast Information Service Electronic Index (FBIS) Paid Access Available electronically
1975-1996. Index to the FBIS Daily Reports issued by the U.S. Government on political, economic, scientific and cultural issues and events worldwide. Translations of broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements Reports are available on microfiche. For broadcasts from 1994 to the present, see World News Connection)
Vendor site: http://www.newsbank.com

Google News Free Access Available electronically
Culled from approximately 4,500 news sources worldwide and automatically arranged to present the most relevant news first. Topics are updated continuously throughout the day.
Site: http://news.google.com/

NCM Editorial Exchange Free Access Available electronically
Formerly New California Media, NCM is a nationwide association of over 700 ethnic media organizations. Editorial exchange contains both current selections from those media and archives.
Site: http://www.ncmonline.com/

TV NewsSearch Paid Access Available electronically
1968-present. Evening network news summaries (not transcripts) for ABC, CBS and NBC from 1968, CNN from 1995. Streaming video of CNN broadcasts. Videotape available for purchase. Based on the videotape archives maintained by Vanderbilt University.
Vendor site: http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu

World News Connection Paid Access Available electronically
1994-present. Translations and summaries by U.S. government of international magazine, newspaper, and newswire stories, transcripts from speeches and radio and television broadcasts, and nonclassified technical reports. Successor to the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). For index to 1975-1996 broadcasts use Foreign Broadcast Information Service Electronic Index available from Newsbank; publications are available on microfiche.
Vendor site: http://wnc.dialog.com

Yahoo! News Free Access Available electronically
Full text coverage assembled daily by Yahoo.
Site: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/

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Directories of Links to News Websites

Best Bets:

ABYZ News Links
http://www.abyznewslinks.com/
Links to newspapers, broadcast and other news media around the world, by country: local, national, and also "foreign sources" published on each country. United States covered by state.

HomeTownNews.com
http://hometownnews.com
More than 2600 links to "to all known daily and weekly U.S. newspapers” with Web sites. You may either select a state or click on a state on the map.

Newspapers in Latin America
http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/news/
This page has links to newspapers in Latin America and around the world, including Spanish-language newspapers in the U.S. Also links to broadcast media. Maintained by LANIC, the Latin American Network Information Center.

NewsVoyager: from the Newspaper Association of America
http://www.newspaperlinks.com/home.cfm
Links to daily and weekly newspapers in the United States, Canada and the world.

Newslink
http://newslink.org/
Links to newspapers, magazines, broadcast media and resources for journalists. Assembled by the American Journalism Review

Additional Useful Databases:

Deutschsprachige Medien im Internet
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/german/media/
A collection of German-language news media links.

French language news sources
http://www.library.ucsb.edu/subjects/french/french.html#news
Links to French language newspapers and other news sources. Maintained by ACRL’s Western European Studies Section.

Gebbie Press: The All-In-One Media Directory
http://www.gebbieinc.com/
A comprehensive directory for working media professionals. The site includes links to daily and weekly newspapers, radio stations, television stations, magazines, business papers, black press, Latino press and news syndicates.

German Studies Web: German-language newspapers and other news sources
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~wess/wessnews.html
A compilation of links to German-language news sources on the web. Newspapers, television and audio sites from Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Maintained by ACRL’s Western European Studies Section.

Kidon Media-Link
http://www.kidon.com/media-link/index.php
Links to global newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and news agencies.

Latin America Online News Sources
http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Research/Subject/latinamericapubs.html
Online publications from and about Latin America, mostly newspapers and magazines. Maintained by the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Latin American Newspapers
http://www.zonalatina.com/Zlpapers.htm
Large listing by country, compiled by Zona Latina.

News and Newspapers Online
http://library.uncg.edu/news/
Links to news sources in the United States and around the world, maintained by the library of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

U.S. News Archives on the Web
http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/internet/archives.html Links to newspaper home pages and their archives from around the United States, including information on availability of full text and fees, if required.

Yahoo: Newspapers
http://www.yahoo.com/News/Newspapers
Links to newspapers and other print news sources in the U.S. and worldwide.

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Content by: Elliot Kanter
Created: March 2, 2004
Electronic Resources in Communication Studies Committee Member List

Updated by: Elliot Kanter