Library & Cultural Services: Politics & International Relations: Media. Journalism. Fake News

General

See also the section on Freedom of Information.

See also the Sociology subject guide for some aspects of media, including Advertising, AI, Internet, social media

Accountable Journalism
Database of media ethics codes from around the world and associated bibliography.
Center for International Media Assistance
Initiative of the US National Endowment for Democracy to promote independent media globally. Some useful free publications covering the state of media around the world.
Committee to Protect Journalists
Data Journalism
Advice for journalists in using data
Ethical Journalism Network
Global Media Freedom Database, 1948-2014
GMFD offers unusually long time series data & is compiled by professors Jenifer Whitten-Woodring (University of Massachusetts Lowell) and Douglas A. Van Belle
Influence Watch
Project of US think tank Capital Research Center, it offers fact-based descriptions of people & organisations, including media companies, that influence public policy issues.
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
The International Federation of Journalists is the world's largest organisation of journalists.
International Press Institute
Includes Media Laws database (mainly in connection with defamation) and Death Watch (statistics on numbers of journalists killed).
International Women's Media Foundation
Washington based organisation seeking to support the role of female journalists around the world. See also the Global Media Monitoring
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
RFE/RL operates in former Eastern Europe, Russia, and from the Caucasus across to Afghanistan. It is funded by the US government. It seeks to provide uncensored news reports and discussion from countries in the region where press freedom is limited or absent.
Reporters Without Borders
Respected organisation, particularly noted for its annual World Press Freedom Index (2002-) & report.
Social media & democracy
Up to date (2020) & open access academic e-book, mainly drawing on US experiences
Unesco Observatory of Killed Journalists
Data back to 1993, includes nationality, gender, country in which died
Vibrant Information Barometer
From IREX. Continuation of the Media Sustainability Index (2000-), focusing on the health of the media/information sphere in Russia, and countries in Central Asia & Eastern Europe that were formerly part of the Soviet Union
Who Makes the News?
Portal focusing on women, gender, and the media. Includes the Global Media Monitoring Project

Africa

African Media Barometer
Offers useful series of country reports, updated at lengthy intervals

Europe

Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF)
Seeks to safeguard media pluralism and freedom across EU member states. Produces annual Media pluralism monitor.
European Audiovisual Observatory
EU agency created in 1992 to collect and distribute information about the audiovisual (film, TV, video on demand) industries in Europe.
European Centre for Press & Media Freedom
Founded in 2015- by 25 organisations seeking to uphold press freedom in all parts of Europe. Maintains database of media violations & Resource Centre of open access research - https://www.ecpmf.eu/monitor/resource-centre/
European Journalism Observatory
Research network of European media institutes.
Illiberal Turn
EU-funded project examining news consumption and political polarization in Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Serbia)
Nordicom
Great site for all things Nordic in the realm of media & communication
Open Society Institute Sofia
NGO funded by George Soros promoting democracy, civil society and EU integration in Bulgaria. Also produces handy Media Literacy Index (2017-) assessing the resilience potential to fake news in 41 European countries
Project Oasis Europe
Research project by academics, journalists & others on the sustainability, innovation, and impact of independent digital native news organisations in more than 40 countries across Europe.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
RFE/RL operates in former Eastern Europe, Russia, and from the Caucasus across to Afghanistan. It is funded by the US government. It seeks to provide uncensored news reports and discussion from countries in the region where press freedom is limited or absent.

United Kingdom

Activist Media Project
Archive of activist media in video, photograph and written form. Print materials are held at the MayDay Archive in London - https://maydayrooms.org/projects_draft/amp_home/
BBC Connected Histories
Great resource for oral history of the BBC, consisting of hundreds of audio-visual recorded interviews, mostly from the period 1972-2001. Covers the history of broadcasting at the BBC, evolution of job descriptions and programme content.
BBC Handbook/Yearbook
Digitised copies of the BBCs annual handbook (later yearbook and then annual report) from 1928 onwards
British Broadcasting Corporation
Numerous useful resources, including:
BBC Genome Project provides access to TV & radio listings covering the period 1923-2009
History of the BBC section
BBC Archive

British Online Archives
Library database offering access to a large number of digitised primary sources, including, from the BBC: Handbooks, annual reports and accounts, 1927-2002; Listener Research Department reports, 1937-c.1950

Shibboleth login

British Universities Film & Video Council
See especially their guide to film, TV & radio collections in the UK, and Box of Broadcasts (BoB) media recording and archive service, to which the Library subscribes (key TV & radio channels have an archive back to about 2007). TRILT - the database behind BoB - has details of recordings from 1995, and it's possible to request copies of these.
Dept. for Culture Media and Sport
Discover Leveson
The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press was the most wide-ranging inquiry of its kind in British history, reflecting the central role of news and journalism in modern society. This archive was curated by Kingston University in cooperation with the National Archives & other bodies.
Guardian Newspaper Media webpage
Hacked Off
Campaigning group aiming for an accountable press & implementation of the Leveson Report.
House of Commons. Culture, Media and Sport select committee
Independent Monitor for the Press (IMPress)
Independent regulator for the digital media age, aims to encourage independent journalism, and build trust between journalists and the public. Funded through the Independent Press Regulation Trust
Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO)
Independent regulator for the newspaper & magazine industry in the UK.
Journalism Research News
Useful website for current awareness of academic research in this field, maintained by the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland)
Media Reform Coalition
Independent coalition of groups and individuals set up in 2011 to maximise the public interest in media & communications.
National Union of Journalists
Ofcom
UK quango, communications & media (TV & radio) regulator, produces a variety of useful publications, including:
Adults' media use & attitudes report
Children's media literacy
Communications market reports
Online nation (2019-)
Oxford Internet Surveys
Detailed insight into the influence of the internet on everyday life in Britain, based on survey data every 2 years 2003-2013, and 2019. A similar exercise in the US is the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Major UK centre, based at Oxford University

United States

Media Matters for America
Launched in 2004 to counter right-wing media misinformation
Nieman Journalism Lab
Looks at the future of (US) journalism in the internet age. Based at Harvard.
Pew Internet & Tech
Similar to the Oxford Internet Surveys above, but covering the US. See also the annual Pew survey.
Tow Center for Digital Journalism
US Media Index
Future of Media project from Harvard University looks at ownership of US media and donors

Many sources of political news for the US, including:

ABC News
Atlantic
CNN Politics
The Hill
National Interest
New York Times
Newsweek
NPR
PBS newshour
Real Clear Politics
Washington Post - note: limited free access to website content. The Library subscribes to Washington Post through the Factiva news database and has purchased the digital archive through Proquest Historical Newspapers

Media Literacy. Fake News. Propaganda. Fact Checking

General:

Duke Reporters' Lab
Excellent starting point for for all things relating to fact check.
First Draft
Ditto for fake news. Note: website operational 2015-2022
International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)
The IFCN at the Poynter Institute maintains a list of signatories. Good place to start looking for fact-check organisations around the world
LSE Truth, Trust & Technology Commission (3T)
Media Bias/Fact Check
Independent website that analyses news sources and news sites, assessing for political bias and degree of factual reporting
News Literacy Project
US based non-profit, non-partisan organisation aiming to educate students and the public about news literacy - identifying credible sources and avoiding misinformation
Newcastle University Library
Useful web page on identifying fake news
Open Society Institute Sofia
NGO funded by George Soros promoting democracy, civil society and EU integration in Bulgaria. Also produces handy Media Literacy Index (2017-) assessing the resilience potential to fake news in 41 European countries
Propaganda Machine
Website of Emma Briant, who unveiled the Cambridge Analytica scandal and leading researcher of the digital influence industry
Snopes.com
World's oldest (1994) & largest fact check site. Strong US & popular element, reflecting its origins in checking out urban legends & rumour research.
Verification Handbook
Practical guidance from European Journalism Centre on how to detect & investigate social media accounts, bots, private messaging apps, information operations, deep fakes, and other forms of disinformation and media manipulation

Africa:

Africa Check
Created by Agence France Presse in 2012 to promote accurate reporting. Contributions in English or French

Europe:
See the 2025 article: Fact-checking initiatives in the EU

CheckNews
From French daily La Libération. CheckNews formerly called Desintox.
Full Fact

United States:

AllSides
Not a fact check site, but offers views of the same stories from the left, centre, and right of politics.
The Disinformation Age
Open access academic e-book available Oct. 2020, looking at the post-fact information age in the US
FactCheck.org
Annenberg Center
Fact Checker
Washington Post
MediaWell
Excellent news & analysis from the US Social Sciences Research Council on digital disinformation and misinformation in relation to elections, democracy, media, and technology. Global, with strong coverage of the US
OSoMeNet
Formerly Hoaxy. Tool that visualizes information spreading and sharing patterns on multiple social media platforms
PolitiFact
Tampa Bay Times
USAFacts.org
Uses government data & backed by SIEPR, Wharton, etc.