Research Guides: SW509: Data Sources for Community Assessment: Current &amp; Historical News

Current News

Here is a list of some of the most comprehensive library databases for searching current newspapers.

ProQuest News & Current Events This link opens in a new window
Combined access to all 50 ProQuest news databases, both historical and current, including ProQuest Global Newsstream.

Access World News
Over 3,000 US newspapers as well as broadcast news transcripts and articles from news magazines.
Ethnic Newswatch
A full text database of 200 publications of the ethnic, minority and native press. Searchable in both English and Spanish, with titles in both languages. Coverage starts in 1960.
Factiva
Offers company and industry financial data and news stories, as well as full text articles in 6,000 trade publications, newspapers, newswires and magazines.
Michigan Newspapers from Access World News
One hundred-thirty local newspapers and news from the state of Michigan. Some from the late 1990's to current.
Nexis Uni
Covers a wide range of news from hundreds of US papers. Also provides broadcast transcripts from television and radio news programs.

Historical Newspapers

Newspaper articles are excellent resources for following the history and background of policy development. While much of our current news is available from individual newspaper web sites, you will likely need to consult library databases to search for older newspaper articles.

19th Century U.S. Newspapers
Hundreds of digitized U.S. newspapers covering 1800-1899.
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
Covers approximately 270 U.S. newspapers from more than 35 states.
African American Newspapers: The 19th Century
Includes searchable full text of Freedom's Journal, The Coloured American, The North Star, The National Era, Provincial Freeman, Frederick Douglass Paper and The Christian Recorder.
American Jewish Newspapers
Searchable access to the complete backfiles of four major American Jewish newspapers, digitized from microfil, 1854-2000.
American Historical Newspapers
Thousands of titles available with coverage from 1690 to 1980. This database includes Hispanic American Newspapers from 1808-1980.
Black Historical Newspapers
Full-text available for six major newspapers published by and for the African American communities, including Atalanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Chico Defender (1909-1975), Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), and Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002).
Ethnic Newswatch
A full text database of 200 publications of the ethnic, minority and native press. Searchable in both English and Spanish, with titles in both languages. Coverage starts in 1960.
News, Policy & Politics Magazine Archive
News, Policy & Politics Magazine Archive offers digital access to the archival runs of 15 20th/21st-century consumer magazines (Such as Newsweek) covering such fields as the history of politics, current events, public policy, and international relations.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Features historic full text coverage of major newspapers in the U.S., including Wall Street Journal (1889-1992), New York Times (1851-2006), Chicago Tribune (1849-1986), Washington Post (1877-1993) and Los Angeles Times (1881-1986).

Evaluating News Sources, Bias & Balance

AllSides
This website offers news coverage from multiple outlets and provides ratings of political leanings of each site.
FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
FAIR is a media watch group that assesses media bias and censorship.
Watchdog or Fact-checking sites
Links to a U-M Library guide on fact-checking sights, Snopes and beyond.

Last Updated: Feb 5, 2025 10:37 AM

Subjects: Course Help, Social Sciences

Tags: 509, assessment, census data, community profile, social work