Imagine having your own personal feed of the Nexis news archive that costs $0 a year not hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. If you cover sexual and reproductive issues, imagine no more. A site called “The PUSH Journal” gives you access to Nexis stories from 5,000 news sources going back to May 2002. PUSH stands for “Periodic Updates of Sexual and reproductive Health issues around the world,” and is an accurate description of what the site does.
Once you register (journalists only), you can use the site to search the archives or to receive daily e-mail messages with the latest full-text stories in them. You can choose from several topics, including religion and culture; AIDS; demographic trends; refugees and migration. The stories are also divided by regions and countries. So you can sign up to receive stories written about, say, violence against women in southern Africa. You can go much broader, of course.
A word about the registration process. I know how hesitant everyone is about registering on sites, but I can understand why this site needs you to register. It needs to make sure only journalists have access, since that’s its mission. I found the registration process asked minimal questions, and I have not received any spam from it so far (wish I could say the same of many — most? — of the media sites I have had to register for).
I think this is an invaluable service and you should sign up, even if you don’t regularly cover such topics. One day, on deadline, you might just find this archive useful.
The site is a joint effort of a Washington-based nonprofit, Communications Consortium Media Center, the United Nations Population Fund, and Nexis.
I wondered whether this was a partisan site catering to a political agenda. But, according to Cecilia Snyder, the site’s executive editor, it isn’t. “We do not edit any of the articles and take the Nexis feed as it comes in,” she says. She is looking for feedback from journalists on ways to improve the service. You can send her yours at Csnyder@ccmc.org. Among the features to come: a weekly digest version, for those who don’t want the five-days-a-week mailings.
Want to share a site you find useful? Please e-mail a SHORT tip, including your name, affiliation, city, and phone number (for verification only) to poynter@sree.net.
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