NY Times Resources

The New York Times has put together a superior listing of World Wide Web resources covering a variety of topics but with a strong emphasis on Web sites useful for journalists. The Times requires visitors to the online edition to register, although there is no charge for doing so.

Keeping Up

FirstHeadlines is a useful way to follow breaking news stories from a variety of perspectives. It's a Web page that presents current headlines from a broad range of papers and news sites, foreign and domestic, often including breaking news.

The Pew Center on the States is assembling an array of data, including current news from around the nation, on how states are dealing with various public issues. The emphasis is on welfare-related policy, and the site -- which goes by the name stateline.org -- is designed specifically for journalists and policymakers. For a quick overview, go to "How To Use This Site."

Searching Opinions

To search editorial and op-ed pages around the nation, try the search engine at http://www.opinion-pages.org/search.html, which gets its results specifically from opinion pages of U.S. and Canadian newspapers, among others.

First Amendment Issues

The Freedom Forum revamped its Web sites and launched a new online news service called "Free! The Freedom Forum Online." A major goal is to provide editorial writers and other journalists with one-stop shopping for news and commentary about the First Amendment. Other sites with First Amendment information include the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, whose board includes NCEW Life Member James Kilpatrick, and the First Amendment Cyber Tribune, the work of Charles Levendosky, editorial page editor for the Casper (WY) Star-Tribune.

Assessing the New Federalism

One of the focuses of NCEW's 1997 convention was the challenge facing editorial pages as responsibility for social programs is passed down from Washington to the states. That's where the Urban Institute's project, "Assessing the New Federalism," may be helpful. The multi-year research project is designed to monitor and analyze the policy shifts, focusing primarily on health care, income security, job training, and social services. The objective is to assist state and local policy makers in designing new policies and programs by providing information about significant developments, but that should be helpful to editorial writers with a serious interest in how policy is evolving as well.

CBO Reports

The Congressional Budget Office, which is both nonpartisan and widely regarded for the reliability and accessibility of its work, is now making its reports available online. While it usually is thought of for its semiannual review of the federal budget outlook, it also does reports on a variety of topics.

Web Links on Current Issues

If you write editorials on national topics, try the "Issue of the Week" section of Policy.com. Each week it provides a reasonably balanced selection of links to background information on a timely issue. It also archives links on issues, many still current, that it has recently featured.

Federal Statistics

It's worth taking some time to explore fedStats, a site maintained by the Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy to provide easy access to a range of statistics and information produced by several federal agencies. Access may not be easy, but it's simpler than sorting through the sites of many agencies in hopes of finding what you're looking for. But familiarizing yourself with the content and workings of fedStats first will prove useful when you need data in a hurry. Try FastFacts first.

Drudge Report

Don't be put off by the hot water that Matt Drudge has got himself into with his email "news service" from visiting his web site. The Drudge Report gathers in one place a collection of links to news sources, including several ways to access the wires, several ways to search the wires, and a vast collection of recent syndicated columns.

Current Supreme Court Decisions

Short but authoritative synopses of current U.S. Supreme Court decisions, prepared by the Court's Reporter of Decisions, are now available from FACSNET, the Web site of the Foundation for American Communication. The FACSNET link here is to the service generally. You are required to register, although the service is free. Once you are registered, you will be provided a unique direct access point without going through a sign-in procedure, so you will want to bookmark that page with your browser rather than link through this page. The Supreme Court reports are is the second item in the Top Issues category. FACSNET also offers...

Annotated AP Wire

FACSNET is providing the AP news roundup for the AM cycle in annotated form, with links to World Wide Web sources of additional information related to the news story and, sometimes, suggested sources to interview that FACS (Foundation for American Communications) has found useful for journalists in the past. Although it is geared to reporters in general, the resource is of potential value to editorialists looking for background or evaluation of a news development, not straight coverage. The number and quality of links differs from day to day. the annotated wire is the first item in the Top Issues category.

Sources 

National Political News (New 11/13/97)

AllPolitics: CNN/Time political news. The Washington Post's Politics compilation.

eVote News : Nonpartisan political news source. The Hill: Capitol Hill insiders' news. Roll Call: Capitol Hill insiders' news.

Current Political News: by Yahoo!

Washington DaybookToday in Congress: Washington Post

Today's events in the Nation's Capital; scroll down to "Daybook": Washington Times House: Weekly schedule; today's actions; committee schedule.

Senate: Daily schedule; committee schedule.

Web Search Tools (Note: Recommended sites in bold)

Data organized in categories: Yahoo | Infoseek

Searches text of documents: Alta Vista |Lycos

Claims to search by concept: excite | EZFind

Searches federal court decisions and laws: LawResearch

Search engines organized by specialization: All-in-One Search

Indexes sites geographically: Virtual Tourist |

Guides to search tools: Your Search Is Over (PC Computing Magazine)

Reviews of search tools: c|net
Reference tool by GuruNet provides concrete, reliable and unbiased answers on a single, unified page: Answers.com

Summaries of Current Periodicals (New 11/20/97)

Slate's survey of current front pages of major dailies

Current/Recent News Search

Washington Post, free; past two weeks. New York Times , requires registration, search free, charge per article.

Dogpile News search of Yahoo, Excite and Infoseek; pull down Search menu to Newswires.

Newspaper Indexes

NAA Newspaper Links

 

Newspaper Morgues

Christian Science Monitor, free; for national and international stories.

Directory to newspaper online archives, includes sites not mentioned above.

 

Web Clipping Services (Updated 3/23/97)

Hunter, clips The Los Angeles Times; free, but requires registration.

 

Help Finding Experts (Updated 10/30/97)

BigTen+ Newsnet, like Profnet, only restricted to the Big Ten midwestern colleges.

Sources and Experts, a compilation of links to university and other sources of experts.

 

Lists of Experts (Updated 10/30/97)

 

State Government (Revised 4/29/97)

Villanova University 's State Web Locator, organized by state.

The Council of State Governments' StatesNews service American Legislative Exchange Council, represening conservatively oriented state legislators. National Association of State Budget Officers

Privately compiled links to State statutes and constitutions

U.S. Government Information

White House: Thomas Congressional Directories Congressional Biographies

Congressional Budget Office reports General Accounting Office reports, etc.

Office of Technology Assessment (pre-1995, when it was defunded) Statistical Abstract: Downloadable chapters

Federal Register, Government Manual, others

 

Financial/Economic

General: U of Mich Collection of The Dismal Scientist (economic data, focus on regional info)

Current economic data: White House economic briefing Annual Economic Reports of the President, 1995 to date. Labor Department Bureau of Labor Statistics | Regional Information

NewsEngin's Consumer Price Index Calculator

NASA's Inflation Calculator

 

Courts

U.S. Supreme Court Decisions since 1990
Decisions 1937-1975
Justices U.S. Circuit Courts

Guide to finding court decisions, federal and state.

 

Education

National Center for Education Statistics

 

International

Foreign Affairs magazine. Search foreign news, references (Wash Post) Library of Congress (extensive) background information on other countries. CIA 1998 World Factbook

OECD Online

 

Statistics

Guide to Statistics for Writers, by former NCEW member Robert Niles.

Text of "The New Precision Journalism," 2001 edition, by Philip Meyer.

Electronic Statistics text book, by StatSoft

 

Newsgathering Tools

FACSNET
The Newsroom
Evansville Courier Web Page

 

Think Tanks (Updated 8/22/96)

Electronic Policy Network; a compendium of liberal groups
Policy.com; a broad-based compendium
Townhall.com, a compendium of conservative groups
Heartland Institute's PolicyBot; searches free-market thinks tanks
Comprehensive list of U.S. think tanks
Comprehensive list of Canadian think tanks
Brookings Institution
Cato Institute
Center for Public Policy
Center for Study of American Business
Committe for Economic Development
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Heritage Foundation
Progressive Policy Institute
RAND Home Page
Reason Foundation

 

Opinion on the Web (New 10/17/96)

Slate is a left-leaning weekly with frequent updates
Netizen is an Internet-oriented source of occasional opinion.

 

Online News Organizations (Updated 10/17/96)

New York Times
All online newspapers 
Newspaper addresses/phones