JOUR 470 - The Press and Society: Library Research Guide
Ownership/Advertisers/PR
Media Ownership & Influence
Who Owns What
From the Columbia Journalism Review's Web site, a guide to what major media companies own. Search by name of publication to see who owns it and what other publications that corporation owns.
If you do not find your news source using this guide, check the publication itself for ownership information.
Well Connected: Tracking the Broadcast, Cable & Telecommunications Industry
From the Center for Public Integrity, the InfluenceTracker is a database to track how much companies, lobbyists, and political candidates spend on telecommunications companies.
Advertisers
Broadcast News - As described in the News Analysis section, the Vanderbilt Television News Archive is a source of information about who advertises on broadcast news programs.
Print Media - For print media, like newspapers and magazines, the easiest way to find out who advertises in those media is to look through copies of the newspaper or magazine. Advertisements are not included in most of the online archives of newspapers and magazines, so you will need to look through a hard copy. The library has subscriptions to many newspapers and magazines. You can locate the current issues in the current journals section of the Main Library.
Online media (Web sites) - For news sources that are Web sites only (that is, they are not just web versions of print or television news sources), look at the banner ads and advertisers highlighted on their Web sites.
Public Relations Firms
Public Relations Firms are often the voice of an organization, presenting the message to the media and the public that an organization wants them to hear. You will often find press releases, news sections, or "for the press" sections on organizations' Web sites.
The reference book, O'Dwyer's Directory of Public Relations Firms, at call number HM263 .O37 Main Reference, is a directory for identifying the public relations firms for various organizations.