|
SELECTED RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH ON
MASS COMMUNICATION IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES
Students should be prepared with more than one foreign country to study. One's first
choice may not yield enough material in the allotted time to complete the written project.
Begin by consulting UNC-CH's online library catalog. Sample subject search:
? su australian newspapers [return]
or
? su mass media -- australia [return]
or
? su mass media policy -- australia [return]
While you are online with the UNC Catalog, explore
the Indexes to
Newspapers and Periodicals (#4 on the library's main menu screen).
From there you can
navigate to national newspapers, academic and business periodicals,
Legal Track, Health
Track and other relevant databases. Further, you can search CARL
UnCover, a database with
over 18,000 journal titles (several hundred have interest for mass communication majors)
abstracted and indexed from 1989.
Next, check the UNC-CH serials list on microfiche to see if Davis serials subscribes to
any newspapers from your selected country. If you don't know the names of these foreign
papers, check in the Journalism Library for the 1991 Editor & Publisher Yearbook.
There is a section for foreign newspapers and wire services. Inquire at Davis Humanities
Reference Desk for the location of foreign newspaper indexes. The Journalism Library has
the following serials which might prove helpful in your information search:
1. CPJ Update (Committee to Protect Journalists)
2. European Journal of Communication
3. Euro Reporter
4. Gazette (International Journal)
5. IPI Report (International Press Institute)
6. Nieman Reports
7. (Several international newsletters, e.g., Deadline)
Also in the Journalism Library is a two-volume set titled World
Press Encyclopedia. It
is dated (appeared in 1982), but useful for background research on foreign mass media.
Don't overlook our 1996 World Book Encyclopedia for relatively
recent information of a
more general nature. Check with the Journalism Librarian for special reports and
monographs on global journalism.
The following list will identify likely titles worthy of note for your preliminary
research. Location of each title and call number (if available) is offered. For the most
part they are located at Davis Library's BA/SS Reference Desk.
1. World Factbook. U.S. CIA. BA/SS Reference Desk (about 2 pages per country).
2. Europa World Yearbook. BA/SS Reference Desk (1 chapter per country).
3. Facts on File. BA/SS Index Area, Counter 9B
4. Background Notes. U.S. Department of State. BA/SS Reference Desk (about 8 pages per
country, but some material is dated).
5. World Media Handbook. (A UNESCO publication) Only selected countries are profiled.
Current issue is 1990.
AT Davis Library's BA/SS reference desk, sign up for appointments to use the CD- ROM
products PsychLit, P.A.I.S. and Social Sciences Index. These products contain abstracts of
mass communication scholarly journals. The ERIC database has, among other things,
abstracts of conference papers, including journalism and mass media proceedings. These
products may yield relevant material on your topics. (Note: these same databases can be
searched on the Journalism Library's DIALOG database.
Our Journalism Library offers students access to such full-text news databases of
several dozen large metropolitan newspapers and foreign wire services. These news
databases (NEXIS, VU/TEXT and DataTimes) are current within 24-48 hours and retrospective
to as far back as 1981 in some cases. We also offer access to online abstracts of
scholarly journals via DIALOG information services. These online searches must be arranged
in advance with the Journalism Librarian. An online Search Request Form is attached.
Sample search statement:
NEXIS; World; (media or newspaper or television) w/10 (government
control or censorship)
or
NEXIS; Omni; headline (singapore) w/10 (media or newspaper or
television or radio) and censorship
or
NEXIS; Omni; headline (samizdat)
DIALOG; File 465 (Arab Information Bank);
? ss (media or newspaper or television or radio)/ti,de [return]
... ss s# and censorship/ti,de or {government()control}/ti,de [return]
... t s#/5/1-xx [return]
Note: you will examine the results of your search queries and decide which ones should
be printed. The printouts may be abstracts or sometimes full-text) of the desired results.
??
|