Interest in news & media is not confined to media studies students, but is also relevant to sociologists for many purposes, such as studies of social movements, events, representation of individuals or groups, and policy topics in education, criminology, social policy, etc. Nor is research restricted to current topics, since an increasing range of historical sources are also being made available. Consult the list below for the major resources available through the Library:
This database offers the full text of thousands of newspapers & news wires from around the world. Includes many major titles such as The Times, The Guardian, New York Times, etc. Coverage varies from title to title, but in many cases dates from the 1980s until present. Nexis extracts the text of news stories from sources, so does not offer a reproduction of the original print copies.
PressReader is a "virtual news stand" and contains a selection of newspapers and magazines from over 120 countries in over 60 languages. You can personalise to show your favourite publications.
OFF-CAMPUS ACCESS: Select "sign in" via "Library or Group". Search for University of Essex. Sign in using "OpenID Connect" and select University of Essex.
BoB is a great resource for audio-visual aspects of news & media. It enables you to record TV and radio programmes scheduled over the next seven days, retrieve broadcasts from the last seven days, and search an archive of over 2 million broadcasts (back to around 2007 for 9 key channels). Requests for older programmes can be made. Focus is on UK channels, with some from Europe & US. BoB is produced by the British Universities Film & Video Council (BUFVC)
A great page to start exploring the BLs large and diverse newspaper collections from around the world
For students undertaking research of a more historical nature, or requiring exact digital reproductions of the original print newspapers, there are two major databases available: Gale Primary Sources and Proquest Historical Newspapers. Note that some newspaper titles on these databases offer content up until just a few years before present, so may also be used for contemporary research. The Gale and Proquest platforms also offer other primary source collections that may also be of interest to you. You can access them from the links below:
Gale offers access to the following UK historical newspapers (these are exact reproductions of the original print versions):
British Library Newspapers (1732-1950); Burney Collection newspapers (17-18th century); Daily Mail Historical Archive; The Economist Historical Archive; The Financial Times Historical Archive; The Sunday Times Digital Archive; The Times Digital Archive; Independent Digital Archive; Telegraph Historical Archive.
As well as access to some major national newspapers (Guardian & Observer, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post), this newspaper archive provides full text access to ten important US Black newspapers, making it an extremely valuable resource for research on all aspects of the 19th & 20th century African American experience
UKPress Online is a full-text newspaper database and has every page available in thumbnail, small preview, full-size view and ready-to-print PDF with live text, and page-by-page browse of editions. It allows searching by name, word or by date for free & the Library subscribes to the full text of: The Daily & Sunday Express, Daily Mirror, The Daily & Sunday Star
There are also, of course, numerous free news sites, including the BBC and Guardian Society pages among others. Many are free to search, but may charge for accessing content.
A useful portal to newspaper and broadcasting websites around the world is provided by ABYZ News
If you are interested in learning more about news and media, come along to the next Library workshop on this area of research.
Ebony has been a leading African-American magazine since publication commenced in 1945. It focuses on news & stories important to the Black community in the US. The fully searchable full-text archive spans 1945-2014, and covers African-American business, history & politics (including civil rights), education, entertainment, fashion and culture.
One of the longest-running and most influential men's magazines, GQ expanded its initial focus on fashion to cover other subjects. The digital archive from 1931- onwards provides textual & photographic insight into the history of fashion, popular culture, masculinity, and society. Provides an interesting contrast to Vogue Magazine Archive, which is also available through the Proquest platform
London College of Communication (University of the Arts London) project collecting a wide range of zines, covering many areas: feminist, sexuality, etc. Some have been digitised
Archival runs of 26 of the most influential, longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests. Includes the pre-eminent US and UK titles – The Advocate and Gay Times, respectively. Chronicles more than six decades of the history and culture of the LGBT community
PressReader contains a selection of newspapers and magazines from over 120 countries in over 60 languages.
OFF-CAMPUS ACCESS: Select "sign in" via "Library or Group". Search for University of Essex. Sign in using "OpenID Connect" and select University of Essex.
A complete searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designer and brand names. The Vogue Archive preserves the work of the world's greatest fashion designers, stylists and photographers and is a unique record of American and international fashion, culture and society from the dawn of the modern era to the present day.
Digitised archive of leading US, UK & Canadian women's magazines from late 19th century to 2005. Includes key titles like Good Housekeeping, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and Essence, useful for looking at gender studies, social history, race & ethnicity, youth culture, advertising, media, fashion, and popular culture
