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Libraries Indiana University Bloomington

Media Studies

Media Studies refers to the broad range of interdisciplinary subjects focusing on media culture and production.

Introduction & News Literacy

The News & Newspapers section of this guide will help you learn how to evaluate and fact-check sources. It also offers resources that will connect you to local news outlets and other news/newspaper sources at IU Bloomington.

News & Newspaper Research Keywords

  • Broadcast
  • Editorial
  • Journalism
  • Local Media/News
  • News Companies/Outlet/Publications
  • Press
  • Print Media
  • Public Television
  • Reporting

Evaluating News Sources

When doing research, you're going to encounter a large amount of information. How can you tell if it's reliable and good information? One way to evaluated sources is by using the CRAAP Test created by the Meriam Library at California State University, Chico:

Currency: the timeliness of the information

  • When was the information published or posted?
  • Has the information been revisited or updated?
  • Does your topic require current information, or will older sources work as well?

Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs

  • Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
  • Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this one is one you will use?
  • Would you be comfortable citing this source in your research paper?

Authority: the source of the information

  • Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
  • What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations?
  • Is the author qualified to write on the topic?
  • Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?

Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content

  • Where does the information come from?
  • Is the information supported by evidence?
  • Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
  • Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
  • Does the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion?
  • Are there spelling, grammar, or typographical errors?

Purpose: the reason the information exists

  • What is the purpose of the information? Is it to inform, teach, sell, entertain, or persuade?
  • Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
  • Is the information fact, opinion, or propaganda?
  • Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
  • Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?

Fact Checking & Bias Checking Sites

Website What's There? Why Use It?
AP Fact Check

Fact-checking, accountability journalism and misinformation coverage from AP journalists around the globe.

 The Associated Press provides a large network of journalists that work to provide accurate information. Focuses on public figures on an international scale.
Fact Check.org A nonpartisan fact checking project based out of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Provides fact-checking within U.S. politics and government. Partnered with Facebook to help fight misinformation surrounding political content on social media.
Lead Stories "Just because it's trending, doesn't mean it's true." Lead stories focuses on correcting major stories that can be deceptive or exaggerated. Primarily focuses on headlines or social media content going viral or that has a large following. 
Snopes Fact-checking and research exploring commonly misunderstood topics from popular media, major world events, politics, and user-submitted topics. Provides a wider range of what will be researched as misinformation and biased information including some popular media or folklore.
AllSides Analyses on major political events, lawmaking decisions, and global issues through multiple political stances.  Shares different perspectives on major issues as well as evaluates major news networks for media bias. Aims to share as much unbiased news as possible.
Hoaxy Data-visualization of the spread of tweets through Twitter Search API. Provides a visual of the spread of misinformation on social media and the amount of people misinformation can impact.

Video: How to Spot Fake News, FactCheck.Org (2016).

For more critical engagement with the media ecosystem, read about some of the problems with the current system and how you can stay informed and aware when engaging with various kinds of media.

Local Media

Campus and Local Newspapers

The Herald-Times 

Local newspaper for Bloomington, Indiana, and surrounding communities.

Indiana Daily Student  

Indiana University Bloomington's student-run newspaper. Available in print at stands around campus and online. Publishes on a variety of issues relevant not to IU and surrounding community.

Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism 

The IU Media School has launched the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism, which includes posts on current events.

B Square Bulletin  

Independent news coverage by local journalist David Askins. Focus is primarily on government meetings and other city and county issues with special focus on elections, budgets, and local hot-button issues.

The Bloomingtonian  

Features local news for Bloomington, Indiana as well as photojournalism from other locations.

WFYI - Indianapolis Public News  

The NPR and PBS affiliate for Indiana's state capital.

NUVO  

Independent community journalism for Indianapolis.

Historical Newspapers & Newspaper Archives

Hoosier State Chronicles  

Monroe County newspapers 1869–1932. Searchable by keyword. Part of the Indiana State Library's Digital Historic Newspaper Program.

Monroe County Timeline

The Monroe County Timeline, an authoritative and popular index of our county's historical and curiously interesting events, was created through a partnership between Monroe County History Center, the Office of Archives and Records Management at Indiana University Bloomington (part of IU Libraries), and the Library. Built by the community, it showcases county events in a timeline format.

Indiana Newspaper Bibliography

Historical accounts of all Indiana newspapers published from 1804 to 1980 and locational information for all available copies, both original and microfilm.

WBWB - 96.7 FM 

WFIU - 103.7 FM Classical & Jazz

WTTS - 92.3 FM  Rock

WGCL - 1370 AM News, Sports, Talk

WHFB - 93.1 & 98.1 FM Community Radio

WHCC - 105.1 FM Country

WIUX - 99.1 FM Indiana University Pure Student Radio

WCLS - 97.7 FM  

Bloomington Community Access Television

Bloomington Community Access Television, commonly known as CATS, is made possible through the cooperative support of the Monroe County Public Library, the City of Bloomington, Monroe County, the town of Ellettsville, HoosierNet, and Insight Communications.

WTIU - Indiana University Television

Bloomington's Public Television Station is WTIU - Indiana University Television. WTIU features local shows and news, as well as nationally-known PBS programming. WTIU receives support from Indiana University, local government, area business partners, and individual members.

Limestone Post

Online nonprofit magazine which has recently shifted to include more content on community issues. Publishes less frequently, but articles are often in the long-form style.

Bloom Magazine

Bloom Magazine is the culture and lifestyle publication for Bloomington, Indiana, and surrounding areas.

WIUX Podcasts

Indiana University student run media group's podcast collection.

The Ryder Magazine and Film Series

The Ryder is famous for hosting film screening all over town, but they also publish a magazine full of event listings, articles, and media reviews. You can find them online, or pick up free issues near many IDS stands and at local businesses.

Indianapolis Monthly

Indianapolis-based general interest magazine.

Databases

Below, we've provided a selection of databases to help you find newspapers and other news sources. For a more extensive listing, navigate to the "Databases" page of our Recommended Resources for Media Studies and select one of the two Newspapers tabs.

Citations

Data and Statistics

This box will introduce you to some of the resources available for statistical information about newspapers. This includes information about circulation and readership demographics for national & local newspapers, magazines, and other publications like podcasts and blogs.

For information about circulation statistics, we recommend beginning with Statista, E&P (Editor & Publisher) Databook, and the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media where you will find circulation data about various publications:

You will find general resources for directories & indices in the "Directories" tab, general databases with statistics and insight reports in the "Databases" tab, media research centers and reports in the "Research Centers" tab, and articles/reports on local publication, podcasts, and social media in the following tabs. As such, for more general inquires, please see the first three tabs.

Below we have collected some popular newspaper and magazine directories. For more explore the following subject headings in IUCAT:

Directories with Statistics

At the link above, you will find editions of the publication since 2011. For earlier editions of the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media, search in IUCAT.

Indices, Catalogs & Lists

For assistance using this resource, see the "Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries: A Guide for Researchers"

In this tab you will find some of the major databases for retrieving statistics on newspaper and news circulation, demographics, revenue, and more. While some of these resources are available to the public, others require that you access them through your IU account (indicated by the lock symbol). Try using keywords like news, media, circulation, publishing, print, podcasts, radio, and broadcasting to search.

The following are research topics in Statista, make sure you are logged in with your IU Account to access these reports:

E&P contains information like advertising rates, paid circulation, delivery methods, monthly visitors, frequency, and more.

The following are reports in IBIS world, make sure you are logged in with your IU Account to access them:

To find circulation statistics: click "Companies/Markets" at the top of the page, then type in the publication that you would like information on.

In this tab you will find some of the major research centers publishing data and statistics on media. Many of these centers provide industry reports and market overviews rather than specific circulation statistics, which are more likely to be found in the databases in the previous tab.

Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They conduct research on News Habits & Media, below are some selected topics and reports:

  • State of the News Media (Project) An annual report on key audience and economic indicators for a variety of sectors within the U.S. news media industry. These data speak to the shifting ways in which Americans seek out news and information, how news organizations get their revenue, and the resources available to American journalists as they seek to inform the public about important events of the day. A number of Fact Sheets for different sectors of the news/media industry are published by Pew every year. The following link to the 2023 fact sheets:

Reuters Institute (University of Oxford)

Reuters focuses on internationally comparative research, and conducts and facilitates research that addresses the most significant issues facing journalists and media organisations in a rapidly developing industry. Their research is conducted by a team of in-house academics, along with Visiting Fellows and research associates. Explore their website for complete access to research. We have highlighted a few reports below.

  • Digital News Report 2024 Reveals new findings about the consumption of online news globally. It is based on a YouGov survey of more than 95,000 people in 47 countries representing half of the world's population. The report looks at the growing importance of platforms in news consumption and production, including more visual and video-led social media such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. It explores audience attitudes towards the use of AI in news, the role of creators and news influencers, how much people pay for news and more.
  • Trends and Predictions 2024 What are the main trends driving the news industry forward in the near term and what opportunities exist on the horizon? This is the question at the heart of our annual Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions report, authored by our Senior Research Associate Nic Newman. The report is based on a wide-ranging survey of 314 news leaders in 56 countries and explores the latest developments in journalism and the priorities for the year ahead.
  • AI and the future of news AI is central to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s mission to explore the future of journalism worldwide. Since 2016, they have worked with journalists and editors, technologists, and others to better understand what the development of artificial intelligence might mean for the future of news, and published research on various aspects of this.

  • Changing Newsrooms 2023 Three-quarters of newsroom leaders in our survey say generative Artificial Intelligence will help newsrooms increase productivity and improve workflows, but only a fifth think it will fundamentally change every role in the newsroom. Meanwhile, two-thirds said their newsrooms have implemented hybrid or flexible working. These are some of the findings of this annual report based on a survey of 135 senior industry leaders from 40 countries and a series of in-depth interviews. It seeks to explore ongoing shifts and challenges facing newsrooms including workplace practices, Artificial Intelligence and diversity.

American Press Institute

Custom studies and in-depth reports that address the most pressing issues facing media. In partnership with The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the API has formed a joint research initiative called the Media Insight Project to better understand news consumers. They conduct data-driven, innovative studies meant to inform the news industry and the public about various important issues facing journalism and the news business. See some selected studies below:

Alliance for Audited Media

  • Magazine Audience Reports Gain a comprehensive view of magazine media brands with AAM’s Magazine Media 360° report. This free industry report measures magazine audiences across multiple platforms and formats—print and digital editions, desktop and mobile websites, and video—to provide a 360° picture of magazine media reach.
  • Media Reliability Discover Media bias ratings for AAM-audited publishers via this interactive chart developed in partnership with Ad Fontes Media.

Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research (University of Chicago)

The AP-NORC Center gathers, analyzes, and disseminates data with unmatched speed, precision, and clarity. They inform public policy debates as they are taking place and contribute to the informed electorate every democracy needs to function properly. The AP-NORC Center’s Media Insight Project, a collaboration with the American Press Institute, has undertaken several studies on the evolving habits of news consumers.

World Association of News Publishers

WAN-IFRA is the world’s largest trade organisation for news publishers and a leading provider of real-time business and strategic intelligence services to news publishers and their technology partners around the globe. They publish strategic, and market insights with print and online publications, special reports, white papers, and online targeted resources. See some selected reports below:

 

You can find circulation statistics about The Herald Times in the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media

Research Centers

Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media (UNC)

The Center for Innovation and Sustainability (CISLM) will grow a more equitable and sustainable future for local news, the journalists who make it and the communities that need it. Through the intersection of research, education and practice, they redefine sustainability to mean more than revenue. On the research page of their website you will find statistics about employment of local journalists, shuttered newsrooms, ad purchasing, circulation, consumers, government support, local news burnout, diversity, unionization, and more

American Journalism Project

A collection of independent research conducted in recent years on the loss of local news, promising solutions to the local news crisis, the growth of the nonprofit news industry, and the impact of local news on the communities it serves.

Articles & Factsheets

  • The State of Local News Project We track closures and mergers of local news outlets, as well as the emergence of new local news providers, across newspapers, digital, ethnic media, and public broadcasting. We identify local news deserts and communities in danger of becoming news deserts. We are a forum for thought leadership and the latest research on changes to the journalism landscape and practice.

The Herald Times in the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media

Articles & Fact Sheets

Articles & Fact Sheets

LibGuides