Category Archives: Backgrounding for News Stories

Apr 10

Top Five Web Sites to Follow News

Job requirement: keep up with the news. So what are the best sites to check or autoload on your web browser? In our student newsrooms, we see the AP wires within the ENPS system where we write scripts. But in … Read More

Posted in Backgrounding for News Stories, Continuing Coverage, Finding Stories | Leave a comment
Mar 26

Get Background on Supreme Court Cases

With Supreme Court hearing the case on the new health care law this week,you might want some tips on finding material about the Court and cases. For background on cases my favorite is SCOTUSblog.com (it stands for Supreme Court of … Read More

Posted in Backgrounding for News Stories | Leave a comment
Mar 09

Quick way to dash off a FOI request

Need the goods tucked in some government document? Or wonder if there is something in someone’s file cabinet or computer archive that will explain what’s going on? Busy reporters have little time to draft and produce freedom of information requests … Read More

Posted in Backgrounding for News Stories, Finding Stories | Leave a comment
Nov 03

Find out the buzz online

If you’re new to a topic or even trolling online for story ideas, why not spend a few minutes seeing what people are blogging about. It’s my new mantra — spend seven minutes on something to see what I can … Read More

Posted in Backgrounding for News Stories, Finding Stories, Searching | Leave a comment
Oct 11

Sites offer background for journalists on Mormonism

With the recent news about presidential candidate Mitt Romney and whether Mormonism is really Christianity, some reporters may not want to wade into theology in a story. But don’t be shy. Two websites that give quality information about religion are … Read More

Posted in Backgrounding for News Stories | Leave a comment
Oct 10

Use CIA World Factbook for backgrounding news

When you need to know basics about a country for breaking news or interviewing a refugee check the CIA World Fact Book. Yes, it really is done by the CIA!  It includes an overview of history, the government, geography and economy … Read More

Posted in Backgrounding for News Stories | Tagged | Leave a comment