Links and Tips for Journalists

Search Engines: a "search engine" is a piece of software that helps you find just about anything on the internet -- like the index in the back of a reference book, only much more powerful; There's reckoned to be hundreds of search engines, many of them very specialised. As a journalist you don't need to know how to use more than a few of them, but you do need to be familiar with more than one -- none claims to index every website, so a failed search on one may work on another.; Google now my first choice -- and the top choice of many others. Beautifully simple front page conceals very clever and powerful searching, with no need to worry about "" marks, + signs, etc
AllTheWeb my second choice. Very comprehensive -- use it for elusive searches where Google hasn't found what you want (but will overwhelm a simple search).
AltaVista somewhat eclipsed by Google, but still good. Use it when looking for pages on a particular keyword or mixture of keywords; Yahoo! the classic search engine. Use it when you're looking for a particular kind of site, for example a radio station in a particular country. Has become a comprehensive "portal" as well -- useful starter for all kinds of information searches, including good auction.; Ask Jeeves brilliant idea that allows you to ask a "natural language" question and then automatically checks a whole lot of search engines for you. Excellent, and other search engines are starting to includ this as an option; SearchUK similar to Alta Vista but only searches UK-based sites. Much better than in its early days.; Deja is the first choice for finding "newsgroups", which are useful for finding discussion about current issues. Now owned by Google -- huge complaints when it was taken over, but seems to work well now, and gigantic archive of past messages.; Dogpile daft name for a rather useful search engine -- worth a try. It integrates several other search engines into one search, AND is also a Web catalogue.; Official Search excellent alternative if you know you're only interested in "official" web-sites -- companies, professional bodies, etc -- as it ignores home pages and the like
Telephone Directories
: UK Phonebook I like this better than BT's own directory enquiry service (next one). Maybe it's just me but I find it easier to use and quicker. Invaluable.
: BT PhoneNetUK -- and click "Directory Enquiries". It's the same directory that BT's own Directory Enquiry people use. The difference is you're in control, it's free, and you can use a lot more lateral thinking! Wonderful resource
: International Phone Directories is even more astonishing -- this page gives links to complete national phone directories on the internet! Dozens of countries in all parts of the World, many of which offer English versions as well. Again this gives you the chance to find numbers that international directory enquiries can't find, and to try lucky dip type searches when you're not sure who you're after. Many countries also have "Yellow Pages" and email directories.
Journalism Directories & Organisations: Quite a few websites offer comprehensive guides to sites of particular use to journalists. Some of the best are:; Pen-pusher claims to be "the Europe's leading web resource for journalists" and it's certainly very good. I particularly like the "find an expert/source" feature; Fleet Street Online excellent listing of world-wide newspapers, magazines, etc; Media UK Internet Directory an excellent site listing radio, tv, newspaper and magaxines for the UK; JournalismNet a remarkable site, set up by a Canadian investigative journalist, with a separate section for the UK; Media Resources on the Net this is the offering from the main Media Trade Unions, rather better maintained than it used to be!; The Journalist's Resource Site a US site from "WTVM", including a variety of journalist news-groups; Newsworld organises media events, particularly annual "Newsworld" conference. Good, and the "Hot Links" page is useful; The Copyright Website; The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA); Society of Authors; Writers' Guild of Great Britain - Home; ALCS The Authors' Licencing and Collecting Society; ByLine The Global Journalism Bank re-sell your published articles to magazines and newspapers around the world!; TotalNEWS all the News, on the Net, all the Time this is a search engine and directory of news sites.
News Providers: are sites giving a news service, often near-live. Not as comprehensive as agency wires, but still useful. Some of the best are well-known agencies, like the Press Association; COI this is the Central Office of Information, the official UK govt press body. Many government press officers will now say "it's on our website" if you ask for a press release, so check here before phoning them. Look through the back-list of press releases if you want to see how many times a particular Minister has repeated the same announcement, and repeatedly trumpeted the same spending decision!; UKOnline.gov.uk formerly the "Open Government Information Service" but I guess that was too much spin even for this government! Still it's an excellent site with links to many hundreds of govt depts, agencies, local councils etc.; Hansard yes up to date online Hansard for the Commons on the Lords, and it's kept very up to date.; ...and many more ..; Drudge Report the famous/infamous Matt Drudge. Fascinating, but approach with care.; Newshub a "summary of todays newest news, updated every 15 minutes, every day"; The Smoking Gun promises lots of confidential documents revealed under US Freedom of Information Act etc; NewsNow Quality news headlines updated every five minutes, every day


more Official Sites

UK; Police Service of NI museum formerly the RUC Museum -- an unexpectedly fine example of a museum site; The Office Of Data Protection -- are you registered?; Customs & Excise sort out VAT problems!; Inland Revenue -- sort out tax problems; Environment Agency; Britain in the USA is the site of the press office of the British Embassy in the USA; House of Commons Library Research Papers; The European Commission; Royal Mail useful site for up to date info on postal services, including Royal Mail Tracking where you can track those Special Delivery packets all the way to delivery; America; FBI yup, the Federal Burean of Investigation; National Security Agency; Political Information (.com) -- A Search Engine for Politics and Policy; International; Tibetan Government in Exile's Official Web Site; United Nations Home Page
Arts: The British Library; The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia astonishing site that allows you to "walk" through the museum and see the exhibits. Not unique but included as an example of what can be done.; Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debate for intellectuals! Stylish site, reminiscent of old bookshops.; Bibliomania, The Network Library
Booksellers: these can be useful for more than just buying rare or discount books. Want to find background information on an author? Go to one of these sites, enter the author's name and see what comes up. Often there will be some biographical information, like where they work, where they live, etc. All very useful.; Amazon.co.uk; The Book Pl@ce; The Internet Bookshop Europe's Largest Online Bookshop; BarnesandNoble.com-The World's Largest Bookseller Online; Books OnLine
Business: Companies House source of details on limited companies, debarred directors etc; Company Sleuth Homepage a US-based site; Biz-ed Home Page a Bristol University site with facts for students, teachers and lecturers, but of wider interest; The Square Mile
Charities, Unions & Pressure Groups: groups in the voluntary sector and pressure groups were among the first on the internet -- long before the World-Wide Web came along. Cheap, rapid communication with members and supporters. Not surprisingly they have a huge presence on the internet now. So this is just a starter. Yahoo! is a good search engine to find more.; Labour Research Department valuable statistical resource; Joint Bradford - SIPRI CBW Project information about chemical and biological weapons; Nuclear Weapons The High Energy Weapons Archive - A Guide to Nuclear Weapons; N-BASE Nuclear Information Service; Cyber PicketLine the World trade unions directory; Animal Aid Online animal rights, anti-vivisection, animal experiments, factory farming, vegetarianism, animalaid, animal aid look here to find out what the animal rights lot are up to
Countryside: Countryside Commission
Digital Editing (and other technical things): Digidesign Online excellent site from the suppliers of "ProTools" digital editing systems, includes the "User Conference" a useful forum for exchanging comments and looking for solutions. You can also download "ProToolsFree" for Mac or PC from the Download pages.; DAW-Mac List Archive independent discussion forum for "ProTools" users.; Pretty high-powered and better than Digidesign's own one; PASS suppliers of specialist studio and recording kit, such as "ReporterMate" kit to add professional features to portable minidisc recorders. Good Bargains page, though doesn't change much.; Audio Design (formerly Audio Systems Components) suppliers of recorders, microphones, leads, digital editing systems and all kinds of odds and ends for radio journalists. Real specialists and very helpful.; Audio Discussion Forums for users of digital editing systems. Divided up by system, including Cool Edit (under "Syntrillium") and Digidesign (unofficial -- includes comments censored from Digi's own site); Broadcast ISDN User Guide & Directory amazing listing of ISDN studios all over the World -- just what you need when trying to do a down the line with the Dalai Lama in Tibet. Also now available in book form.; Quark UK makers of the classic "Quark Express" desktop publishing software used by nearly all newspaper and magazine publishers
Food: Restaurants.co.uk - Comprehensive UK Restaurant Guide
Foreign Countries: Russia on the Net
Hotels: Welcome to Hostels.com / The Internet Guide to Hostelling; The Hotel Guide - An International Hotel Directory and Guide
Languages: European Languages Dictionary; Foreign Languages for Travelers
Maps: UK street maps stunning site, just be realistic -- it's bound to take a while for detailed maps to download. Still very useful if you need a streetmap of a faraway town in a hurry.; Streetmap.com - Complete set of maps on the Internet -- World-wide.; Multimap - Interactive maps of Great Britain
Newspapers: There is a vast number of newspaper sites on the internet. Search for them on:; Paperboy; OR; Media Resources on the Net this is the offering from the main Media Trade Unions; OR; Fleet Street Online excellent listing of world-wide newspapers, magazines, etc; OR the various Search Engines; and here's a few samples; The Times the stuffy old Times was one of the first on the Net -- and rather good; Washington Post read today's issue in the morning UK time and you'll be seeing it before most Americans!; The Sydney Morning Herald
Radio: Much the same applies as to newspapers above. Remember if it's a UK radio station you want it's probably on:; Media UK Internet Directory Radio Index; Also there are lots of radio stations broadcasting on the net; Ontheair.com - Live Radio TV and Webcams On The Net; and here's a few other samples:; Radio Tele Hong Kong; The BBC Online; Independent Radio News; Welcome to IRDP the independent radio drama producers website -- broadcast-quality independent plays on the net
Relax!: Dilbert Zone the classic antidote to management-induced stress -- take 3 times daily and before meetings. New cartoon every day.; The Page of Anxiety if you haven't checked out the above often enough
Travel
The Trainline.Com excellent train fare booking site: TheTrip.com ··· Everything for the business traveler except the stress; Railtrack now, don't laugh! Click on Timetables and it's rather good; UK Railways on the Net general site with links to other rail operators; Lastminute.com the famous late booking holiday web-site that's made its photogenic founders into millionaires or ex-millionaires or something; Cheap Flights, air tickets and travel advice; SeaView -- cruises and ferries; Travel Select - Low Cost Flight Reservations; Foreign & Commonwealth Office - Travel Advice
Weather: Welcome to Online Weather brilliant site -- regional forecasts, 4-day outlooks etc AND now with Mountain forecasts as well!
Internet Auctions: Surprisingly these are remarkably good, and problems are rare if you're sensible. Use the "Feedback" or "Rating" facilities to see how trustworthy sellers and buyers are. Use the payment systems recommended by the auction sites. Spend a little time over a few days just browsing to get an idea of how it all works. Then start bidding!
: eBay the original and still the best. US-based, but remarkable turnover of all kinds of goods in UK as well. And overseas transactions seem to work well (just be sure to check shipping costs before bidding on overseas; items); eBay.co.uk the UK-specific version, for items in or available to the UK.; items); Yahoo Auction the once-leading search engine is now a diverse portal, and it's auctions are quite good.; QXL home-grown pale imitation of eBay UK-- worth a try but nothing like as much stuff yet, although it gets quite a lot from continental Europe. Recently much-improved design may mean it gets more activity.