Most journalists are good at web searches. But it’s easy to overlook some excellent sites when you’re looking for quotes, experts, information and story ideas.
Here’s a few to look at:
- Twitter – has an effective search tool. You can search by subjects, people, lists etc.
- Facebook pages – different from users’ walls and are sometimes missed.
- LinkedIn – useful when you need to find an expert, or a relevant group.
- Ecademy – great for information and quotes from academics.
- https://www.healthgrades.com/find-a-doctor – useful for medical information and quotes
- https://www.religionsource.org/Contents/JournalistHome.aspx – great when you’re writing about religion.
- https://www.helpareporter.com/ – rated by some as the best site for journalists!
- https://www.cfah.org/hbns/journalist/ – superb for medical and scientific information.
- https://www.whorepresents.com/ – find spokespeople for celebrities in entertainment, media and sport.
Meanwhile, those unfortunate enough to attend my media law training sessions this autumn will receive a nice treat.
Delegates can enjoy a musical intro while they take their seats and work out how they’re going to stay awake for the next few hours.
The music will be The Carpenters singing: ‘We’ve only just begun’. And there is, of course, a solid legal reason for my choice of song.
I chose it because journalists have only just begun … being dragged out of bed by police at 6am … arrested and questioned for interviewing public officials … having their confidential sources compromised by police raids and the PCC Code … finding that some stories cannot be investigated because of new legal and ethical controls … I could go on.
Maybe the song could become our industry’s anthem?
Cleland Thom is director of training organisation CTJT
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