LibGuides: How to find: Newspapers & other media sources

What is a newspaper or media source?

Media sources keep us informed, discussing current or recent information of either general interest (for example daily newspapers like The Australian or the New York Times), or a specific subject focus (e.g. political or trade news like the Foreign Policy or the Australian Financial Review).

Media sources include newspapers, magazines, TV current affairs programs, online news organisations and news blogs.

Image: News Daily Newspaper Press by Michael Gaida CC0

Why use news and other media sources?

News and other media sources provide up-to-date reporting on events as they are occurring, while journal articles and books may take months or years to move through the publication process.

Media sources are great for images, quotations, opinions, and other primary source material. They can:

Present issues in the context of when they occurred. The way issues are discussed is likely to closely align with the feelings and opinions of the general population at a particular time;
Seek comment or opinions from representatives of both sides of an argument, providing multiple points of view about an issue;
Present statistics as they are released, including data related to jobs, economic outlook, health, companies and industries.

News and other media sources reflect matters that are of interest to the population they serve, whether that be the general public or a more specific audience.

Tips for searching for media sources

Searching for news and media sources may require a different approach than searching for journal articles or other academic content. You need to consider the audience. News and media sources are usually aimed at a general audience.

Avoid using technical language and discipline-specific jargon in your search to increase your chance of success.

Consider the difference between the language used in the newspaper article headline and the journal article title below:

Newspaper headline:

Journal article title:

Where can I find media sources?

Though you will find newspaper and other media sources searching via Google, some of the content may be behind a pay-wall. If this happens, try the databases below.

Newspapers

Factiva
Factiva contains one of the larger newspaper collections of all of the Library's databases. It includes Australian and international newspapers, from the local Canning Times through to the New York Times. The full text of the article will be available, however it won't include any pictures, graphs or other diagrams that accompanied the original publication.
ProQuest
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ProQuest provides access to over 2,000 newspapers including 300 Australian newspapers and 63 related specifically to business and economics. To search for newspapers specifically, select the option to limit your search to newspapers under the Source type option. Again, you will discover the text of available articles, but pictures, graphs or other content that may have accompanied the original publication is not included.

Other Media Sources

TVNews (Informit)
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An archive of Australian television news, current affairs and selected documentaries from the free-to-air networks. The content is mostly video, however detailed synopses are also provided for each entry.

Evaluating information

It's important to evaluate the information you discover on the Internet. Learn more via our guide:

Evaluating online information and effective Internet searching