Research Guides: COMM 200: Critical Thinking and Speaking: News & Media Sources (Recent)

What Are News Sources?

News media includes TV, radio, newspapers, news magazines, print journalism, and online journalism. To keep things simpler, this page mostly focuses on news articles (from newspapers and magazines).

Types of News and Opinion Articles

News

News article: An article written to inform readers about recent events. The author reports essential information (who/what/where/when/why/how).
News analysis: An article written to inform readers about recent events. The author reports and attempts to deepen understanding of recent events—for example, by providing background information and other kinds of additional context.
Feature article: Compared with news articles, feature articles are often more creative or exploratory and less focused on efficient delivery of essential information. Other types of news content that are generally categorized as “feature” writing include how-to-do-it articles (for example, how to shop for a new phone) and profiles (for example, an article about an actor starring in a recently-released film).

Opinion

Editorial: An unsigned opinion piece that represents the views of the news organization’s editorial staff.
Opinion piece: An opinion article by a staff columnist or guest columnist. (If a guest columnist, the writer’s credentials will almost always be identified.)
Review: An evaluation of a book, movie, album, live performance, etc.

From News or Opinion by Christine Photinos, reproduced in CSUSM University Library LibGuide, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Where To Find News Sources

Google News

Google News
Links to articles from thousands of publishers and magazines. Note: Not all content here is equally reliable!

Example searches

bayard rustin: Your hidden figure's name will bring up different perspectives and news about that person.
civil rights movement: Searching a more general event might bring up results where people are revisiting established narratives or sharing new information about the event. For example, the third article result is Excluded from National Leadership, Black Women Were the Backbone of the Civil Rights Movement (Smithsonian blog).

Tips

You may hit paywalls when attempting to access articles through Google News. If this happens, try searching for the article in one of the library databases listed below.
Click the arrow on the right of the search box to show advanced search features:

Library News Databases

If you hit a paywall and can't read a news article, try copying/pasting the article title and searching in one of these news databases:

Nexis Uni
Includes articles from major newspapers from the 1970s to present. In the search box on the main page, click All Content Types and then select News.
National Newspapers Core
Includes some news sources that aren't in Nexis Uni, like the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. National, international and local news.
Independent Voices
Digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Contains full-text articles appearing in numerous U.S. racial and ethnic minority newspapers, consumer magazines, and some journals published since 1995, focusing on African American, American Indian, Asian American, and U.S. Latino publications.

Example Sources

Source #1

Link to article (LA Times, December 6, 2023)

Source #2

Link to article (The Nation, December 12, 2023)

Questions To Ask

Like any type of media, news sources might reinforce dominant narratives or challenge them.

How does this article portray your hidden figure? Does it emphasize certain narratives?
Who is the author, and what can you find out about them?
What is the publication, and what can you find out about it?
What citations or references support the author's claims?
Can you find another source that represents a different perspective or emphasizes a different narrative?