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Picks of the Week - 2002
Here is a random selection of some of the best, most topical or just
plain fun sites for journalists for the year of 2002.
Click here for TOP
TEN of 2002.
Do you have a suggestion for J-Net's Pick of the Week or do you run a
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And for other years:
- Pick
of the week for December 23, 2002: AltaVista
News turns up the heat on Google
News by teaming up with Moreover and gathering news from 3,000 worldwide
sources. Its strength is that you can select topics, sources and also
restrict your news search to countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany,
India, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
For more news search tools, see
Jnet's News Page
- Pick
of the week for December 15, 2002:
Google Translation
Your favourite search engine has improved its service by allowing you
to translate words, sentences, or even entire web pages. It's never
perfect, but it's faster and more efficient than most free computer-based
translators. For more tools, see
Jnet's Translate Page
- Pick
of the week for December 8, 2002:
ILG International radio A
comprehensive listing of world radio stations, this site allows you
to find any news (or music) station by continent or country. It also
has the advantage of dividing its listing into internal
(home and domestic) services for each country (the radio people
in that country are listening to) and external
services (the international broadcasts many public networks provide
for a world audience.) For more ways to find radio stations, see
JNet's Radio Page.
-
Pick
of the week for December 1, 2002:
Vivisimo
News Search The Vivisimo search tool, one
of the new generation of search engines that try to "cluster"
or group your results, offers a sample of its power by allowing you
to search for news from the BBC, Yahoo News, World News, CNN
and the New York Times. You can only do one media outlet at
a time, but the results are often more efficient than if you tried
the searches from the media sites themselves. For more news search
tools, see JNet's News
Search Page.
-
Pick
of the week for November 24, 2002:
RadioTower
An easy-to-use guide to find web radio of your choice: music, news,
sports,or business with selections from 80 countries and 20 different
genres. Browse by name, country or category or use
the advanced search. You can also simply click and play once you
find your pick. For more ways to find radio stations, see JNet's
Radio Page
- Pick
of the week for November 17, 2002:
WhitePages.com One
of the most convenient and comprehensive phone directories on the web
for US and Canada. You can search
for only partial names or do a reverse
search by phone number or by
address. For more directories, see JNet's
Phone Page
- Pick
of the week for November 10, 2002:
Executive
Library A convenient, easy-to-read page that gives you the top
of the news sources from around the world -- plus ways to search for
more headlines and stories. The site also offers excellent
research strategy tips with good sites to start your search on US
and Canadian government and business web pages.
- Pick
of the week for November 3, 2002:
WWW Virtual Library: International
Affairs Resources now has over 2400 carefully selected, annotated
links in 37 international affairs categories. You can search directories
by media, country
or topic. It also offers useful
guides to starting research on the web.
- Pick
of the week for October 27, 2002:
New York Times College
Edition Though aimed mainly at students and faculty, this special
section of the Times also offers some hidden gems for professional journalists.
By organizing the news into over 200 academic disciplines, the College
section allows you to easily locate information related to your story.
Then you get access to a much older archive of articles compared to
the main NY Times site -- and you can search for free for even older
articles. Plus you can also sign up to receive free e-mail alerts when
new articles related to your story a specific area of study is published
on NYTimes.com
- Pick
of the week for October 20, 2002:
UN Wire For easy access to
top international stories often ignored by the mainstream media, consult
this rich news page prepared by the independent United Nations Foundation.
You can search
the archives going back several years and also consult stories by
themes, such as Human Rights, Justice & Democracy,Crime, Corruption
& Drugs and Peacekeeping & Security.
- Pick
of the week for October 13, 2002:
Washington
Post War Coverage As war clouds gather on Iraq,
one of the best newspapers on the web offers a treasure trove of free
background material. You can consult a free
archive of close to 4000 stories with a sophisticated
advanced search. Also available are archives
of past editorials. For more tools, see JNet's
Covering War Pages.
- Pick
of the week for October 6, 2002:
Wisenut Touted as the first
serious competition to Google, this new search tool from Looksmart has
several intriguing features. It's simple and sleek. It returns results
in sub-categories, allowing you to do further searches within topics.
For example, a query for "Iraq" offers you categories on Sanctions,
News, the Middle East, etc. There is also an
advanced search option for those not familiar with advanced tricks.
For more new search tools, see JNet's
Search Engine Guide.
- Pick
of the week for September 29, 2002:
Gumshoe
Librarian Gary Price, an American librarian and one of the best
Internet researchers, along Genie Tyburski of a web site called Virtual
Chase offer great advice for journalists. Topics include investigating
companies , finding
people and US
criminal records.
- Pick
of the week for September 22, 2002:
IraqWatch Web site devoted
to monitoring Iraq's progress in building weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq Watch describes key Iraqi organizations and sites,
lists their foreign suppliers, and provides access to U.N.
and other documents that describe Iraq's activities.
- Pick
of the week for September 15, 2002:
Robotype
Tired of typing the same names or words over and over again in your
stories. Save yourself a lot of grief with this free download from PCMag.
You set the abbreviations for the words, phrases, and paragraphs that
you frequently type and RoboType simply replaces your abbreviations
with the expanded text. You'll for more tools for journalists at JNet's
Tools Page
-
Pick
of the week for September 8, 2002:
September
11 Coverage Looking for fresh ideas or want to check out the competition
for the big anniversary story? Read the Poynter's survey about how
the American media is wrestling with the issue. The site includes
web resources, including the Smithsonian's
Digital Archive and Human
Rights Watch analysis.
-
Pick
of the week for September 1, 2002:
CNN Newswatch The powerful
web site and news organization now offers one of best personalized
news services on the web called Newswatch. It's not free, but you
can try it out for one week -- and you'll be sold. It offers ways
for you to choose your headline topics, stock watches, and tickers.
It continuously monitors news from CNN.com, CNN/Money, CNN/Sports
Illustrated, major newswires, and over 2,000 regional, national, and
global news sources. For more newstickers, see JNet's
Choose your News page.
-
Pick
of the week for August 25, 2002:
SingingFish Finding
video and audio clips on the web is not easy -- general search engines
are not great. But this new search engine joins the ranks of the specialized
tools that will help you find pictures and video. It also has a
good advanced search tool that allows you to narrow your search
to news and select the type of video and audio formats. For other
tools like this, see JNet's
Audio Search Tools and JNet's
Video Search Tools.
-
Pick
of the week for August 18, 2002:
Killer Info A new metasearch
engine (it uses several search engines at once) that has two intriguing
features: You can get a "quick peek" of each result without
leaving the results page. And every search also gives you a "Table
of Contents", showing you subject topics hidden deep within the
search results, making it easier to find the sites you are looking
for. For other tools like this, see JNet's
Multiple Search Engines.
- Pick
of the week for August 11, 2002:
Kplay Reference Making
it simple to use different reference works on the Web. Reference
Search gives you several dictionaries, encyclopedias and factbooks
all on one page with easy-to-use buttons. Finance
search gives you stock market and SEC databases. There are also
speical pages to search for people and pictures and videos. For more
reference sites, see JNet's
Reference Page.
- Pick
of the week for August 4, 2002:
World Freelancer
Looking for the perfect place to pitch a story idea? This
site offers extensive
lists of writing markets by continent, including detailed submission
guidelines for many magazines. There are also tips and job postings.
For more job news, see JNet's
Jobs Page.
- Pick
of the week for July 28, 2002:
Journalists'
Weblogs Weblogs are personal diaries of web sites visited.
When they are compiled by thoughtful journalists, they can be insightful,
helpful for leads or just plain fun. This list has weblogs from veteran
investigative journalist Peter Maas, a Boston Globe business reporter,
an MSNBC correspondent and others. For more media profession news, see
JNet's Media
Page.
- Pick
of the week for July 21, 2002:
Rulers Investigating arms exports
from your country and you need to know who was in power in Argentina
in the 1970s or who ruled Belgium six years ago? Rulers.org
has complete lists of heads of states going back to 1900, plus a detailed
list of key world events since 1996. For more information on finding
leaders and governments, see JNet's
Find Countries page.
- Pick
of the week for July 14, 2002:
Find
Law News on World Terrorism Find Law, one of the best legal research
sites on the web, has a special section on terrorism. It offers the
latest news, plus resources such as laws, cases and web links (although
the Documents section is outdated.) Find Law also has a
special page on the WorldCom scandal and other topics such as Enron
and Tobacco. For more legal resources, see JNet's
Legal News Page.
- Pick
of the week for July 7, 2002:
FirstGov The US government's
official portal has improved its search tool and offers one of the best
ways to start your search for anything connected to American governments
-- federal or state. The
international page offers links to 191 countries, foreign embassies,
the CIA World FactBook and other useful tools. For other ways to search
countries, see JNet's
Country page.
-
Pick
of the week for June 30, 2002:
Portals
of the World The US Library of Congress offers a top-notch database
of information on countries around the world. Depending on the country,
you get lists of web links for Government, Politics, History,Libraries,
news media and even Listservs and Newsgroups. One of the most complete
ways to begin research on a story abroad. For more ways to research
countries, see JNet's
Find Countries Page.
-
Pick
of the week for June 23, 2002:
Al-Bab.com run by Brian
Whitaker, the Guardian's Middle East correspondent, is an excellent
guide to Middle East news. You can choose news by country or region,
or select from many of the background features. Country profiles give
you everything from hotels to statistics to the best news sources.
-
Pick
of the week for June 16, 2002:
BBC
Country profiles The BBC offers detailed snapshots of most countries
-- history, political analysis, media outlets and in many cases a
timeline of key events and outside web links. There is no central
listing -- you have to search by region for Europe,
Africa,Middle
East, Asia-Pacific
and the
Americas. For more ways to research countries, see JNet's Find
Countries Page.
-
Pick
of the week for June 9, 2002:
Google Glossary
Google Labs -- the department that keeps coming up with improvements
for Google -- offers you a peek at a new site they are developing.
Need a quick definition, not just of a word but of a concept or an
issue -- for example, "ozone layer" or PCBs? You get several
links to the best web pages that give you a snapshot of the phrase,
its meaning and context. An excellent quick reference guide.
-
Pick
of the week for June 2, 2002:
$20,000 Investigative Reporting
Prize Deadline Nears Entries for the annual International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists Award for Outstanding International Investigative
Reporting must be postmarked by July 15. The ICIJ Award aims to foster
international investigative reporting. The work must have involved
reporting in at least two countries. There is a $20,000 first-place
prize and up to five $1,000 finalist awards. The ICIJ
is a project of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington.
In Canada, the deadline is June 15, for entries for third annual Justicia
Awards for Excellence in Journalism. The Justicia Awards recognize
outstanding broadcast and print stories that foster public awareness
of any aspect of the Canadian justice system and are sponsored by
the Canadian Bar Association, the Law Commission of Canada and the
Department of Justice Canada. Email stephenh@cba.org
or sbindman@justice.gc.ca
for more information.
- Pick
of the week for May 26, 2002:
BBC
News Search The BBC has launched a new search engine which has distinct
advantages for journalists. Its general results tend to be of higher
quality than ordinary search tools. Plus you can click on a special
button and get results only from BBC News and the BBC WebSite. The Advanced
Archives search also gives you access to years of BBC online material.
For more news search tools, see JNet
News.
- Pick
of the week for May 19, 2002:
Teoma
A new search engine offers impressive results by using a
new technology they call "Subject-Specific Popularity." They
ask experts within a specific subject community about who they believe
is the best resource for that subject. You almost always get very relevant
results, neatly organized and tips on how to refine your search. A brilliant
concept.
- Pick
of the week for May 12, 2002:
The Corporate Library Extensive
site devoted to international corporate governance. The free services
include news
briefs. You can also
do excellent company research including not just biographies
of CEOs and board members of companies listed on US stock exchanges,
but also their salary, perks and sometimes even a copy of their contracts.
For similar tools, see JNet's
Business Criticism page.
- Pick
of the week for May 5, 2002: Ajeeb.com
With tensions in the Middle East showing no signs of easing, you might
want to check out this site -- the only way to get translations from
Arabic and English for free. You can translate single
words, selected text or entire web pages. For more
translation tools from Russian, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese
and Spanish, see JNet's
Translation Page
- Pick
of the week for April 28, 2002: Privacy
International Get the latest news about internet privacy and other
privacy issues from this organization based in London and the US. Last
week, its American branch gave out its annual Big Brother Awards to
top corporations and governments for infringing on citizens' rights.
There are also Country
reports on Privacy. For more links on privacy, see JNet's
Privacy Watchdogs and JNet's
Spy Tips
- Pick
of the week for April 21, 2002: Addresses.com
Finding someone's email is mainly luck on the web. That's because there
is no single directory and listings are always voluntary. But Addresses.com
is one of the best -- it did not find all of my email
addresses, but did track down 5 of them. For more email tools, see Jnet's
Page Finding
People's Email.
- Pick
of the week for April 14, 2002: Guardian's
Mideast special report page As the Mideast war heats
up, the British paper The Guardian offers excellent resources, including
a
weblog page with resources and a
good list of media links. For direct access to more Mideast papers
from ABYZ, click here.
- Pick
of the week for April 7, 2002: Intelligence
Online High level insight and analysis -- for a price. Independent
news for a few dollars an article. But there are also many
free services, including summaries of articles and a great selection
of links on everything from moneylaundering to arms and computer hacking.
Aussi disponible en français
- Pick
of the week for March 31, 2002:NewYorkTimes
News Tracker The best newspaper on the web has added
a new, personalized search feature. You can now single out specific
words and tell the Times to email you any time the word or phrase appears
in a headline, an article or even a byline. You have to register first
at the member center,
but it's all free.
- Pick
of the week for March 24, 2002: GoogleNews
The best search engine on the web has rolled out a "beta"
test version of an important new service for journalists -- a news search
tool. You can read the last week's news by topic (World, Business, etc)
or use the search box with the usual powerful Google accuracy.
- Pick
of the week for March 17, 2002: Topica
The place to search on the web for mailing lists -- the unsung heroes
of the web. You can find experts, ordinary people and passionate crusaders
among tens of thousands of email discussion topics. This revised page
also gives you tips
on how to subscribe and describes the
different kinds of lists .
For more on using mailing lists, see JNet's
Mailing List Page and also Jnet's
Journalism Lists.
- Pick
of the week for March 10, 2002: Newsthinking
Every Monday morning Bob Baker adds a new excerpt from his Los Angeles
Times newsletter on writing, taking you inside a successful story and
showing you the structure of that success.
- Pick
of the week for March 3, 2002: Nelson
Search A news search engine from Poynter.org that allows you to
hunt through more than 200 print, broadcast, and online
sites around the world -- plus 155 journalism-related organizations
and 174 sites relevant to particular beats in the newsroom.See more
news resources at JNet's Find
News Pages.
- Pick
of the week for February 24, 2002: Newstrove
A news search engine that offers many hot pre-selected topics (Mideast,
Enron) and an easy search box. The results often come from a surprising
variety of sources. See more news resources at JNet's Find
News Pages.
- Pick
of the week for February 17, 2002: UN
Guide The UN has a treasure trove of information for
journalists, but its web site -- like the UN itself -- is massive and
disorganized. This official guide gives you an fast way to find departments
by alphabetic
listing, by theme
and you can also search news releases.
See more resources at JNet's Find
Country Facts.
- Pick
of the week for February 10, 2002: Profnet
Roundup One of the best resource pages for experts --
Profnet -- has come up with a helpful instant list of consultants and
media experts. Though heavily American, the list includes such topics
as the Olympics
and Performance-Enhancing Drugs, terrorism and the ABM treaty. You
can also write
to Profnet to request help on a specific story. For more resources
in finding experts, see Jnet's Experts
pages.
- Pick
of the week for February 3, 2002: Officer.com
An American law enforcement site with plenty of crime
and justice links for international journalists. The site lists a wide
range of police agencies across
Canada and the
world, along with international
criminal justice links. For more legal resources, see Jnet's Legal
News pages.
- Pick
of the week for January 27, 2002: InternetWire
An easy way to track corporate news releases. Includes an
advanced
search by headline, summary and date and helpful categories such
as
medical/health and legal
issues. For more PR resources, see Jnet's
PR page .
- Pick
of the week for January 20, 2002: Virtual
Tuner A fast way to find radio stations around the world.
You can search
by country, by news
category and an advanced
search ;lets you search by city. For more ways to find radio and
TV, see Jnet's TV and
Radio pages
-
Pick
of the week for January 13, 2002: Al
Jazeera in English Broadcast throughout the Middle East, al Jazeera
has been called the "CNN of the Arab world." WBUR, a national
Public Radio outlet in Boston, provides daily translations of its
news. For more news on the continuing conflict in Afghanistan and
the debates over the war on terrorism, [Discontinued after January
30. 2002] See JNet's
War Coverage page.
-
Pick
of the week for January 6, 2002: Scirus
Scientific Search Sirus different from other search engines because
it concentrates on scientific content only enabling you to chart and
pinpoint data, locate university sites, and find reports and articles
in an efficient manner. You can do an advanced
search on focus on scientists' home pages, articles, abstracts
or patents.
For more ways to find science news,
see JNet's
Science page
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