Gathering Information
Writing and Reporting the News: A Journalism Practicum
Digital Resources:
- Online news libraries: nytimes.com, ucsdguardian.org
- Search engines: www.google.com
- New aggregators: news.yahoo.com
- Commercial news databases: LexisNexis
- Government databases: www.census.gov
- Special Interest databases: online press releases (www.fda.gov/opacom/hpnews.html)
Traditional Resources:
- City, state, and federal directories
- US Census
- Telephone books
- Maps
- Dictionary
- Congressional Directory
- Current Biography: profiles of prominent people
- Facts on File: weekly compilation of news from metropolitan newspapers
- Guinness Book of World Records
- Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature: index of magazine articles
- Statistical Abstracts of the United States: digest of data from federal agencies
Sources of story ideas:
- Other people
- Your own publication
- Other publications
- News releases
- Government reports
- Your own life
- Researchers or field experts
- Local, national and international leaders