Library Research Guides: Media Studies: News & Newspapers

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.

Access World News
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Includes electronic editions of hundreds of large and small U.S. newspapers and titles worldwide.
Source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. Offers coverage at local, regional, national and international levels. Covers a range of disciplines, including political science, journalism, English, history, environmental studies, sociology, economics, education, business, health, and social sciences. Enables researchers to track subjects geographically and over time, analyze trends and statistics.
Chicago Tribune (ProQuest Recent Newspapers)
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Digital access to the Chicago Tribune, 2008 – recent (coverage extends to within days of the current issue). Additional access options for the Chicago Tribune are available.
Additional access options:
- Access to the Chicago Tribune from 1849 - 1996 - offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue.
- The IUB Library holds the physical microfilm for the Tribune as well. The microfilm copy is especially important given that some articles are not available in the ProQuest resource because of the Supreme Court's Tasini ruling concerning the copyright rights of independent journalists and writers. ProQuest entries carry a note referring one to the microfilm copy.
Indianapolis Star (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
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Provides full text access to The Indianapolis Star from 1903 to 2004.
The Indianapolis Star is the largest paper in Indiana. It has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize three times — once for meritorious public service and twice for investigative reporting. In 1975, the Star was honored for its 1974 series on corruption within the Indianapolis Police Department. It was cited again in 1991 for its 1990 series on medical malpractice.

The Indianapolis Star is the largest paper in Indiana. It has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize three times — once for meritorious public service and twice for investigative reporting. In 1975, the Star was honored for its 1974 series on corruption within the Indianapolis Police Department. It was cited again in 1991 for its 1990 series on medical malpractice.

Additional access options:

Access to the Indianapolis Star 2009-Present (via ProQuest Recent Newspapers). Note there may be a lag time of approximately 5 days for new issues to be added.

The IUB Library holds the physical microfilm for the Indianapolis Star, 1907-present, located on the second floor of the East Tower, call number AN2 .I3S7.
Los Angeles Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
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Full page and article images with searchable full text from the Los Angeles Times.
The full text of the Los Angeles Times, with images of pages and articles; users can search and limit by date and article type.
New York Times (ProQuest Recent Newspapers)
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Digital access to the New York Times, 2008 - recent (3-month embargo). Additional access options for the New York Times are available.
Additional access options:

Access to the New York Times Online (newyorktimes.com and via apps)
Access to the New York Times from 1851 - 2013 (plus access to the Times Index from 1851 - 1993)

Note: The IUB Library holds the physical microfilm for the NYT as well. The microfilm copy is especially important given that some articles are not available in the ProQuest resource because of the Supreme Court's Tasini ruling concerning the copyright rights of independent journalists and writers. ProQuest entries carry a note referring one to the microfilm copy.
Television News Archive
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Indexes evening broadcasts from ABC, ABC Nightline, CBS, CNN, NBC and PBS. Online video is available for CNN news broadcasts from 1999 to the present.
The world's most available, extensive and complete archive of major network television news. The database currently includes 725,000 records, including abstracts at the story level of regular evening news and special news program. These broadcasts cover presidential press conferences and political campaigns, national and international events such as the Watergate hearings, the plight of American hostages in Iran, the Persian Gulf war, and the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001. All broadcasts are copyright protected for class and research use. The database will list results of individual story-level records. From each of these records you can press the button to display the listing of the entire program. Online video is available for CNN news broadcasts from 1999 to the present, as indicated by the Video clip available. You can request complete programs or compilations of selected items to be copied onto videotape. The news archive charges a fee to recover the cost of providing this service.
Wall Street Journal (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
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Full text of the Wall Street Journal, America's business newspaper. Additional access options for the Wall Street Journal are available.

Additional access options:

Access to the Wall Street Journal, Eastern Edition, 1984 - current (https://libraries.indiana.edu/wall-street-journal)
Access to the Wall Street Journal Online (wsj.com and via apps) (https://libraries.indiana.edu/wall-street-journal-online)
Washington Post (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
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The full text of the Washington Post from 1877 - 2000, with images of pages and articles; users can search and limit by date and article type. Additional access options for the Washington Post (https://guides.libraries.indiana.edu/majornews).
From 1877 - 2000, every backfile issue of The Washington Post has been digitized from cover to cover, including news stories, editorials, photos, graphics, and advertisements. You can search using basic keyword, guided, publication-specific searches, and relevancy search techniques to locate information. You may also browse through issues page by page, as one would browse a printed edition.
World Newspaper Archive
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A collection of historical newspapers from around the globe. It was created in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries- one of the world's largest and most important newspaper repositories.

Citations

Local Media Outlets (University of Wisconsin Libraries)
Evaluating Information Sources: Evaluate Your Sources (University of Southern California Libraries)
Evaluating Sources (University of California Berkeley Library)
News Sources (University of Michigan Library)
News Literacy (The University of Arizona Libraries)
Evaluating News Resources (Rutgers University Libraries)
Local Media (Visit Bloomington)
Local Media Resources (Government Information, Maps & Microform Services (GIMMS) at Indiana University)

Media Studies

Introduction & News Literacy

News & Newspaper Research Keywords

Evaluating News Sources

Fact Checking & Bias Checking Sites

Local Media

Campus and Local Newspapers

Historical Newspapers & Newspaper Archives

Databases

Citations

Social media

Additional resources

Featured Databases

IU Libraries