Texas Conservative Lobbyist News: Archive.org Launches Searchable Database of Television News
The following is a report of a new service available at archive.org, one of the Internet’s largest repositories of indexed media content. The Texas Lobby Group is making this resource public on their website as a public service for Texas Lobbyists, Texas politicians and political groups, government consultants, and other interested parties.
See the resource at archive.org.
With so many varying perspectives and political opinions, news reports are an interesting resource. It can be difficult to know how accurate the information being presented is or what station is best to tune in to. While these different news sources are covering varying topics, people are often left at a loss for where to look for information that is presented in a light that suits their own views. Archive.org has compiled a database of broadcast news coverage, allowing users to search though past news coverage.
For example, when searching by topic “government”, coverage from virtually every news source will pop up. These results are sorted chronologically, and can be further if desired. The database begins in mid 2009. Results can be organized by most recent, oldest, and their relevance. There is a listing of TV networks provided, allowing the user to sort by network. Programs on stations are also searchable.
Listed on Archive.org’s page are reviews and posted uses of the search engine from various organizations and individuals who utilize the search for research and for checking sources and accurate reposting through social media. Rob Faris of The Berkman Center for Internet and Society says this:
“We at the Berkman Society do a lot of research into digital media and we’ve, because of the availability of data, have focused on the logs and other online sources of media and have gotten pretty far with that but it’s pretty limiting recognizing that broadcast media is still very, very important and so we’re excited to be able to get access to a fully digitized version of searchable TV clips. So it’s a potential game changer for media researchers.”
Having access to so many past broadcasts empowers organization and individuals by providing a thorough and organized database of news stories. This search is especially helpful in media studies and research. With the rise in social media with twitter, facebook, and blogging, people are often becoming news sources themselves. This is a great tool for these individuals, providing quotable information and sources with which to compare their own reports.