We find the following resources useful. Please contact us to recommend your favorite sites.
Journalism and Media Resources
Center for Investigative Reporting | www.muckraker.org
Founded more than 25 years ago, this nonprofit organization works to "strengthen democracy by exposing injustice and abuse of power." Their
reporters conduct investigations that are funded by private grants and
donations. Their work is then sold or contributed for free to hundreds
of different media outlets, from PBS to the New York Times. This site offers
tools for reporters, books and videos, as well as an extensive archive
of CIR investigations. The San Francisco Chronicle profiled the CIR in
a 2002 article.
Citizen Joe | www.citizenjoe.org
This nonprofit site is focused on creating an informed citizenry through
non-partisan guides to public policy issues. Their links page is a terrific
directory to credible information sources. And their Civics 101 section
offers great basic information about government. Policy sections deal with
energy, education, trade and other important issues.
FAIR | www.fair.org
A nonprofit media watch group working "to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints." Their
site offers analysis of current media trends, including an article called, What's Wrong With The News.
Their website offers extensive archives of articles written on a range
of issues that are underreported by the media.
Independent Press Association | www.indypress.org
The IPA mission is "to amplify the power of independent publications so as to foster a more just, open and democratic society." The
nonprofit group helps its 450 member magazines and newspapers to learn
from each other, reduce costs and reach a wider audience. Their site provides
links to member publications, as well as tools for publishers.
Independent World Television | www.iwtnews.com
A startup television news network that is seeking to raise 100% of funding
from the public and to forgo any corporate or advertising funding. This
new project welcomes your ideas and donations. Take a look.
Investigative Reporters and Editors | www.ire.org
Based at the University of Missouri Journalism School, the IRE is a grassroots
nonprofit organization "dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting." They
maintain a database of reporters with subject expertise and also conduct
training for reporters.
The Journalist's Toolbox | www.journaliststoolbox.com
A project of the American Press Institute, this site is extremely useful
for researching a wide range of topics via the Web. The API is a training
organization for professional journalists.
News You Might Have Missed | www.newsdesk.org
Newsdesk.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, commercial-free news bureau dedicated
to the principle that democracy can only flourish when citizens are fully
informed about the urgent issues of our times. Subscribe to their weekly
email newsletter, News You Might Have Missed, to catch fascinating stories
from far-reaching media sources.
Pew Research Center for People and the Press | www.people-press.org
This independent opinion research group studies attitudes towards the
press as well as public policy issues and politics. You can read all
of their
surveys and reports for free at this site.
Project for Excellence in Journalism | www.journalism.org
A collaboration between the Committee of Concerned Journalists and the
PEJ, this site aims "to clarify and raise the standards of journalism in America, as well as training citizens to identify what they want from the news, and how to get it." The
site offers extremely handy tools and resources. And the group offers training
programs for citizens.
Public Journalism Network | www.pjnet.org
This association of professional journalists works "to explore and strengthen the relationship between journalism and democracy." Their
site has many useful links as well as a weblog.
Stats | www.stats.org
STATS monitors the media to expose the abuse of science and statistics before
people are misled and public policy is distorted. "We check out the facts
and figures behind the news." The site has many news articles and also a
list of recommended information sources.
Wiretap | www.wiretapmag.org
A project of Alternet.org and the Independent Media Institute, Wiretap
aims to "provide a new generation of writers, artists and activists a space to network, organize and mobilize" by
targeting socially conscious youth. The site is a portal for many youth
media groups, as well as a lively collection of news articles, artwork
and essays
generated by young people.
Searching Resources
Internet Public Library | www.ipl.org
Run by the teachers and students at the University of Michigan School of
Information, the Internet Public Library helps Internet users to find, evaluate,
select, organize and use information resources. The site includes tutorial
pages about web searching that will help choose among the different search
engines.
Librarians' Index to the Internet | www.lii.org
This reference service is compiled by the Library of California and includes
resources selected and evaluated by librarians. This site has good tips about
how to effectively use other Internet research tools.
Ixquick | www.ixquick.com
One of several socalled "metasearch engines" this tool helps you find whatever
you are looking for on the web by searching other search engines. This
is a fast, accurate way to find resources from several sources at once.
Google Answers | www.answers.google.com
When all else fails, you can pay a fee ranging between $2.50 and $200, to
ask Google's expert web searchers to answer questions that you don't have
time to research on your own. All questions and answers are posted to a massive
database and remain accessible to the public. The service seems to work best
for questions that are not controversial or complex, and for information
that is readily available from mainstream news sources.
Questia | www.questia.com
Questia provides Internet access to books and journal articles in the humanities
and social sciences, plus magazine and newspaper articles. Organized to serve
students and other academic researchers, the site is great for finding materials
overlooked by the search engines.
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