The Cyberian Express

  

Finding Expert Sources

There are several places reporters can go on the internet to find sources on a particular subject. Here are just a few of the better ones.

SLA Directory of Sources .   [http://metalab.unc.edu/slanews/internet/experts.html] Kitty Bennett, research librarian at the St. Petersburg Times put together this list for her newsroom. There are some interesting source links here. And best of all, its done by a newsroom for a newsroom so you know somebody is thinking the way you do.

Profnet    [http://www.profnet.com/]   Good resource if you use it right.  Profnet is a consortium of pr types from universities. You send in your topic and your deadline, they provide you with a list of professor types who can comment. Can be hit or miss at times but sometimes you come up with a real gem that you wouldnt find any other way. Look at the credentials  some professors have a great deal of real world experience, some dont.

Community of Science database   [http://expertise.cos.com/]   Another university oriented database of experts. Try it along with Profnet.

 Facsnet   [http://www.facsnet.org/]  A journalism-oriented database of experts. Limited but its just getting started good. With time, it will be better.

Yearbook of Experts.   [http://www.yearbooknews.com/]  Worth a couple of minutes anyway. Says its built for the news media but the firm that built it is called Broadcast Interview. Inc. So maybe its not surprising that a search for Kosovo produced no results and neither did a search for Yugoslavia but a search for sex produced a few listings for sex therapists.

Experts Com.   [http://www.experts.com/]   Designed for lawyers looking for an expert witnesses. If they can talk in court, they can talk to the news media, right. Of course, they usually get paid for talking in court.

Findlaws Directory of Experts.   [http://www.findlaw.com/13experts/witness.html] Another database of experts for lawyers. This one is considered by some journalists to be pretty good.

National Press Clubs Directory of Sources.   [http://npc.press.org/newssources/searchdirectory.cfm]   Good site designed for journalists. Check it out.

Megasources.    [http://www.ryerson.ca/~dtudor/megasources.htm]    Not exactly by beat but you cant skip this site. The most comprehensive guide to the net for journalists. The only problem is that its so comprehensive, you can get lost and never find your way out. Dean Tudor at Ryerson University in Canada put it together. Great resource.

The Beat Page.   [http://www.reporter.org/beat/]   Shawn McIntosh put this together when she was doing computer-assisted reporting at the Dallas Morning News. Its not as comprehensive as some guides but its solid and worth a good look. Provided by reporter. Org, the home of Investigative Reporters and Editors.

New York Times Guide to the Internet.   [http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/reference/cynavi.html]   Good selective listing of sources for journalists by a veteran. Only problem is you will have to register with the Times web site the first time you log in.

American Journalism Reviews Newslink.   [http://ajr.newslink.org/gref.html]   Another site designed for journalists. Good links particularly for the feds, since it is headquartered at the University of Maryland.

Reporter. Org.    [http://www.reporter.org]   What can you say. The best site on the web for serious journalism. This is the home of IRE, NICAR , the Campaign Finance Information Center and several journalism organizations. Worth going to if only for the database of handouts from the Phoenix IRE conference. The handouts are in PDF format (ugh) and not every speaker brought along a handout but some are top notch. And, if nothing else, you can get the names of reporters who have already done the story youre working on  and maybe they will give you a little help if you call them up.