Journalists' Web Tools

By Professor Roger Mellen


Web Browsers
Web Search Engines
Other Searches
News Sources
Local (Northern VA/ D.C. area) News
Federal Government
Public Relations
Journalism Reviews
Journalism Organizations
Television Links
George Mason University Sites
Job Search
About This Page
Contact WebMaster
Web Browsers:
Go to http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html to download free Netscape Navigator.

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads to download Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Either Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator will work fine.
[Do not try and use any version below 4.0, for either browser.  Internet Explorer 5.0 or Netscape 4.7 are fine. To check either browser for version, go to the top line of your computer window when the browser is open. Go to Help, left click and pull down to "About Navigator" or "About Internet Explorer." Make sure your version is 4.0 or higher, not 3.0 or lower.]

Web Search Engines:
My favorites are:
Yahoo at: http://www.yahoo.com
(When the search is best accomplished by categories, such as finding a business.)

AltaVista at: http://www.altavista.com
(When the search is best done by searching words, such as "Kosovo Liberation Front.")

Google at: http://www.google.com/  (allows you to search within your search results and thus is good for narrowing down searches.)

Other Searches:
Lexis-Nexis is great for searching articles published in news sources, court cases, and other stuff (biographical, medical, etc.) http://mutex.gmu.edu:2048/login?URL=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/cis
This is a paid service, and the link will only work for students, faculty and staff, who are on-campus,   connected via the GMU dialup account, or those with an ID number to type in.

Library Spot is a good place for online reference material such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical references, etcetera at  http://www.libraryspot.com/

For many sources on one page, from news to phone books to search engines to cross directories, go to http://assignmenteditor.com/

"The Elements of Style" at: http://www.bartleby.com/141/ is a great source for grammar and writing.

"A Journalist's Guide to the Internet"  at http://reporter.umd.edu is a wonderful resource of  government links, search tools, records and much, much more.  It was put together by Christopher Callahan, associate dean of journalism at the University of Maryland at College Park and author of the book, "A Journalist's Guide to the Internet" (Allyn & Bacon - 1999).

The Journalist's Toolbox is another great set of links at http://www.journaliststoolbox.com/

WHOIS at http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois/ enables you to search the InterNIC Web address database to determine who owns a Website page or address.

People, phone numbers, directories and reverse directories at http://www.infospace.com/

Public record information network at http://www.searchsystems.net/
with links to links to public record databases from all 50 states.

News Sources;  My favorite sources for online news include:

The Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com
You can search Post articles on their site, but only back 2 weeks for free. Go to Lexis-Nexis for searches farther back.

The New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/
You must register for the NY Times, but it does not cost.

CNN at http://www.cnn.com/

Associated Press Wire at http://wire.ap.org/
(Choose any paper listed. The wire is the same on each. )

eNewsWires.com gives you a variety of wires in one location at http://www.enewswires.com/

Nando Net at http://www.nando.net
One of the first and best Web news sites, by the Raleigh (NC) News and Observer.

MSNBC at http://www.msnbc.com
This venture by Bill Gates' Microsoft and NBC will also give you local news.

ABC News at http://abcnews.go.com/

Sports News at http://espn.go.com/

Is it news? The Drudge Report, and his extensive news links at http://www.drudgereport.com/

CNN Newsource for CNN feeds to affiliates, rundowns, and scripts.
http://newsource.cnn.com/   You must have a password to access this material.

Local (Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. area) News:
ABC 7 DC (TV) at http://www.wjla.com/

WTOP Radio at http://www.wtop.com/

The City Paper at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/

Washington Monthly Magazine at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

Broadside, George Mason's student newspaper is at http://www.broadsideonline.com

The Daily Mason Gazette (for GMU faculty/staff news online) at http://gazette.gmu.edu/
Plus an online version of the regular Mason Gazette at http://www.gmu.edu/news/gazette
 

Federal Government
 
White House

U.S. Senate

U.S. House of Representatives

Federal Judicial Center

Department of Justice

Department of State

Department of Defense

Department of Education

Department of Energy

Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Housing & Urban Development

Department of Interior

Department of Commerce

Department of Labor

Department of Agriculture

Department of Transportation

Department of Treasury

Department of Veterans Affairs

Journalism Reviews:
AJR (American Journalism Review)- produced by the College of Journalism of the University of Maryland at College Park at http://www.ajr.org

Columbia Journalism Review - scholarly review of journalism produced by the Columbia University School of Journalism at http://www.cjr.org

Journalism Organizations and other Sites:
Society of Professional Journalists at http://spj.org/

Facsnet is a non profit designed to educate journalists and to help with online research. They have their own reporter's tools listed at http://www.facsnet.org/

Stateline. Org - a source of news from state capitals at http://www.stateline.org/
An online venture by the Pew Center on the States, a non-profit group trying to help journalists, policy makers and engaged citizens become better informed about innovative public policies outside the beltway.

The Freedom Forum - a source of First Amendment and Online Technology News at http://www.freedomforum.org/Excellent non-profit site, well funded by the Gannett Foundation, that has good reports on First Amendment issues and other stuff.

The Poynter Institute at http://www.poynter.org/
Wonderful place for journalism education from ethics, to online journalism, to Web design. Non-profit well funded by St. Petersburg (FL) Times stock.

Civic Journalism. The Pew Center for Civic Journalism at http://www.pewcenter.org/

Project for Excellence in Journalism at http://www.journalism.org/
Connected with the Columbia School Graduate School of Journalism, funded by the Pew Charitable Trust, Tom Rosenstiel and company like to keep journalists on their toes with critical studies and reports.

NewLab, for Television Journalists to get help with new ways to tell difficult stories, go to http://www.newslab.org/Run by journalist Deborah Potter, funded by the Park Foundation and affiliated with the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The National Press Club is at http://npc.press.org//
More than just a social and drinking club for Washington DC based journalists, there are resources at this site, including schedules of many news conferences.

Radio Television News Directors Foundation at http://www.rtndf.org/

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)  is at http://www/aejmc.org

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) , an organization that provides educational and other services to investigative journalists at  http://ire.org/

The American Society of Newspaper Editors at http://www.asne.org/

The National Press Foundation is at http://www.nationalpress.org/
National premier organization offering issue-oriented professional development programs and awards for journalists.

Television Links:
Shoptalk (E- newsletter for TV insiders) at http://www.tvspy.com/

Electronic Media at http://www.emonline.com/

Radio Television News Directors Association at http://www.rtndf.org/

The Producer Newsletter at http://www.scripps.ohiou.edu/producer/index.htm

Public Relations:
PR Newswire at http://prnewswire.com/
A commercial site that posts press releases for corporations and organizations.  Online version of what also comes to newsrooms via wire.

U.S. Newswire at http://www.usnewswire.com/
Similar to above site.

George Mason University Links:
These services are for GMU only, and the link will only work for students, faculty and staff, who are on-campus,  connected via a GMU dialup account, or from off campus with your I.D. number.

The GMU libraries catalog is at http://magik.gmu.edu/

The GMU library electronic databases are accessable via http://library.gmu.edu/resources/databases.html

GMU library electronic references are at http://library.gmu.edu/resources/reference.html

The Washington (D.C.) Research Library Consortium's online catalogue at http://www.aladin.wrlc.org

The Virtual Library of Virginia is a great online reference source, but only if you are accessing via a Virginia college campus, such as GMU.  Users can access online catalogs, reference sources (dictionaries, encyclopedias and and more), books and magazines at  http://www.viva.lib.va.us/index.html

Job Search Links:
General Job Info:
The Annual Surveys of Journalism and Mass Communications jobs by AEJMC and the University of Georgia can be found at http://www.grady.uga.edu/annualsurveys/

Also at the RTNDA/Ball State salary survey at http://www.rtndf.org/research/salaries.shtml

For generic job classifieds:
http://classifieds.yahoo.com/employment.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wl/jobs/home
http://www.monsterboard.com/

For Resume Assistance:
http://jobstar.org/tools/resume/index.htm
http://www.collegegrad.com/resumes/

Print Openings:
Newslink at http://newslink.org/joblink/

Broadcasting Openings:
The Producer Page: Jobs! at http://www.scripps.ohiou.edu/producer/newjobs.htm
Don Fitzpatrick Associates (Shoptalk Publishers) at http://www.tvspy.com/
Electronic Media Online at http://www.emonline.com/careers/index.html
Broadcast Net Classified Ads at http://www.broadcast.net/bclass.html

All Media:
JournalismJobs.com at http://www.journalismjobs.com/

Journalism JobBank (UC-Berkley) at http://www.journalism.berkeley.edu/jobs/


This Journalists' WebLinks site is the creation of Roger Mellen, Visiting Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Electronic Journalism program at George Mason University.  The descriptive opinions expressed here are his own, and are not intended as a formal endorsement.  If you have any problems or discover any broken links, please E-mail me at rmellen@gmu.edu
Corrections, comments and suggestions for additional links are always welcome!