Help on the beat and other resources for reporters
Return to the main Net Tour page.Beat help
Many Web sites - even those not specifically designed for journalists - are organized around topics similar to a newsroom's beat structure. Others, such as the Beat Source Guide, offer specific help by beat. Check The Reporter's Handbook, 4th ed. to find chapters on investigations that are beat specific with a list of Web links for those beats. IRE has a growing list of guides in its Beat Book Series.
- IRE's Beat Source Guide - Shawn McIntosh's famous page listing links by beat.
- Librarians' Index to the Internet - The Librarians' Index to the Internet is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 7,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. It's meant to be used by librarians and nonlibrarians as a reliable and efficient guide to describe and evaluate Internet resources.
- Yahoo! - Instead of using Yahoo's search engine, use its list of lists, called a directory. Start there to find proven sources on broad topics.
- Statistics.com - This comprehensive directory of links to data sources is a starting point to find statistical data on your beat.
- Deadline Online - Alan Schlein has compiled a list of people-finders that has them all, from university alumni directories to the major search engines.
Reporters' resources
Journalists helping journalists. It happens on the Web, too.
- Reporters' Desktop - Duff Wilson of The New York Times has compiled one of the most useful starting points for backgrounding people and companies on the Internet. Check his links out.
- Reporting Census 2000 - With support from the Russell Sage Foundation, Steve Doig of Arizona State University has put together a comprehensive site for reporters looking to use the Census Bureau's wealth of data on the census beat or any other.
- Reporter.org - Find links to many major journalism organizations, including those that are beat specific.
- In the News - IRE and NICAR gather extensive resources, including past stories, tipsheets, databases, Internet links and more for journalists covering breaking news stories.
- Poynter Online's Links to the News - Wish you had time to create a page for specific stories in the news? Poynter does it for you, with links from holiday stories, such as St. Patrick's Day, to the big news stories, such as Sept. 11. Check here before you start building your own list.
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