1. Folha de Sao Paulo. This choice just comes to me because many sources indicate that its is the number one read newsource for the brazilian public; example (Statista). It started publishing in 1921 which adds another great reason to follow it; its 97 year old history  adds some more legitimacy do this source. The newspaper folha which translates to “sheet” or “leaf” has even an english version online which I learned about later in the semester, as I was direct translating from the internet browser foolishly. Folha also has correspondents in many parts of the world including the united states Israel, Iran, the U.K and in China, it has a good balance of Brazil’s interests domestically and abroad, solid source a little right leaning from what I have encountered.  

          Folha.uol.com.br      

Traditional periodical

         Updated Daily   

         Country of origin Brazil

         Language: Portuguese

 

 

2.  O Globo, Is another newspaper that publishes its content online, that also has been around for nearly a century. According to Statista its the second most read periodical in Brazil after Folha de Sao Paolo. They have a pretty normal website but a little heavy on the advertising side which makes the user  (me) not want to check it as much because of the clutter. After using the site for a little bit I have noticed some anti PT articles maybe the disproportionality is in my head after being told that this is a bit of a right leaning news source , much like Folha. Globo is a very big organization which dabbles in more than just news which I have not focused on.

Oglobo.globo.com

Traditional periodical

Updated Daily

         Country of origin Brazil

         Language: Portuguese

 

 

3. I have followed the hashtag Brasil around different Social media platforms such as twitter and Instagram. It has been an enjoyable experience as a lot of it has been also non political but focused on landmarks and beauty which most of it would seem kind of useless given the context of the assignment, but I have discovered about the geography of the country and its many regions, regions  which I had never heard of or knew very little about. Also another positive for me has been the overwhelming amount of soccer news that this hashtag has brought to mix as Brasil seems to be synonymous with soccer on the internet. Unreliable sources as everyone can post, also unrelated material. People will hashtag Brasil for unrelated topics to get views likes.

Updated every minute/second

Social Media

        Country of origin Brazil

        Language: Portuguese

 

4. Catraca livre is a newer source of news that does not have a physical paper in Brazil its online and it is noted to be a little left leaning one, so with the two of the aforementioned sources being the opposite I thought it would bring about balance. I have been seeing very little politics on their main website but more of an educational agenda and a focus on the arts. In addition they also have a whole section dedicated to fake news, which as an American was interesting to see that a foreign country has adopted the term so rapidly. I  have actually enjoyed the diverse range topics this website has had to offer.

Catracalivre.br

New Media

Updated daily

        Country of origin Brazil

        Language: Portuguese

 

5. I have followed President Lula’s tweets on twitter to keep up with him, Lula was the ex-president of Brazil from 2001 to 2009 serving two consecutive terms for the PT in brazil ( workers party). Lula is an avid twitter user at the age of 72 and is going to run for election once again and is projected to win if not interrupted by authorities who are investigating him for corruption charges.This will be one of  the most biased source I follow as it’s not really news in the traditional sense. He has been very vocal about his views as expected referring to opposition as fascists (and more) and calling out news sources like O globo; one of my other sources as a hate stimulator (translation). As the campaign has heated up I have suspicions that his campaign tweets most of his tweets and pictures but I can’t know for sure. Finding out he will not be able to run for president feels really odd as he has been campaigning and putting a lot of effort to get re-elected, its weird to see something like this happen to the one person you decided to follow.He was dubbed as the world’s most popular politician by Barack Obama.

       https://twitter.com/LulapeloBrasil

Updated at random

Social Media

     Country of origin Brazil

     Language: Portuguese

 

6. The Rio times online has been a source for me that I have used most to look at a lot of soccer news. As the 2018 world cup approaches the people of Brazil are happy and very nervous at the same time and what the website has shown me is the apprehension of many to get fully invested in Brazil’s chances even though they were the first to qualify for the tournament after the automatic qualifications of the hosts (which does not truly count). During the worldcup businesses shut down and the country comes to a halt to witness their heroes play in a manner that not many other countries do, if any. Even for the superbowl or the olympics I don’t see half the  amount of enthusiasm in our own country in my opinion, so I thought it would be fitting to follow up on Brazil’s passion which I share with them. In passing I have seen its other content but I have not focused on it for other reason but their sports commentary and news, which I learned Brazil are also giants in the sport of volleyball as well.

riotimesonline.com

          Updated daily         

          Country of origin Brazil 

          Language: Portuguese

 

7. I used Statista as a point of reference and double checking news stories and numbers I saw in news stories and the website seemed to be a great reliable source for all things Brazil. Although its infographics were not the most exciting, like the ones we saw our guest speaker use and show us, it more than did the job. I didn’t really find any notable weakness other than the boring designs and more importantly its need for membership if one wanted to check “premium Statistics” which I did not want to do and also not being able to check its sources, which now to think of it are both kind of big problems as it needs membership for a more detailed look.  Statista is a source that I have cross checked with The world fact book to ensure they match, and the margin of error seems to be extremely low thus I believe they are both reliable sources.

https://www.statista.com/

Data Source

Updated: update rate unknown

    Country of Origin: Germany

    Language: English

 

8. CIA World Factbook is another source that was useful for statistics about the country of Brazil and it is one that I used to cross check with Statista as I previously mentioned. The websites strengths are that it does not ask for money to view specific information like statista but it also provides less specific statistics, but the fact that its public domain is a great truly . It too suffers from not being aesthetically pleasing and looks outdated, to make make sure it wasn’t I double checked to see how often it was being updated as the interface looked like something from the AOL days, and unlike statista with there was no way of checking its sources. DIdn’t look at it too much, a couple looks and you get a general understanding of your country, I prefered to check the sheet that we were given earlier in the semester where in a quick view one could see one’s country ranking and it was categorized neatly.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Data Source

Updated Bi weekly according to the site

Country of Origin: The United States

   Language: English

 

9.The BBC was also a site I frequented when things seemed confusing or the translator was not doing it for me, I have looked at the BBC prior to the country news report. BBC is one of the most widely known news organizations around the world, The British Broadcasting Companiess news covered a surprising range of news from Brazil, sure some of the small town news were not available or covered but major political events and even events at city level were covered. I was not able to notice much of a bias while watching their videos or reporting which seemed like a good thing, I decided to use it as my video news source mainly because spoken portuguese is too difficult to understand even for a spanish speaker in my opinion. The site is really  easy to use and even had a country profile, I sometimes would look at videos on their Youtube channel as well which has over 2.2 million followers.

http://www.bbc.com/

Traditional Periodical + Video/Audio source

Updated Daily

 Country of Origin:England

 Language: English

 

10. The Guardian is another source I used for videos and it was mainly do to the fact that videos in Portuguese were not working for me, the reporting was good and it often had subtitles when politicians were speaking in portuguese unlike other video sources. It even has a culture center in which I often got lost in and sidetracked, which is not a weakness of the site but a weakness of mine. Overall it was an enjoyable experience, did not notice left or right leaning and from searching online they seem like a pretty reliable source. Did not find any outlandish clickbait or over sensationalist titles. The website has different settings, when you join it has you in the U.S section by default I switched to international most of the time and when I saw nothign Brazil related I just searched for Brazil or a keyword to find what I wanted.

https://www.theguardian.com/us

Traditional Periodical+ Video/Audio Source

Updated daily

   Country of Origin: England

    Language: English

 

11. fourfourtwo.com was one of my sources for all things soccer, this site has a really extensive list of interviews  and knowledgeable staff on the subject of soccer. And not only premier league soccer but world soccer. Its interviews were fun and enjoyable were it asked legends of their dream team and their thoughts about the current state of teams and soccer. I tried to follow the Brazilian team but they had qualified already for the worldcup and their performances were not really telling of what’s to come for them, even though they did well including in their most recent friendly against Russia. No noticeable problem other than overly talking about English team, which is understandable as it is an English Magazine, the “loophole” can be found in that that many Brazilian soccer players play abroad in England, much like our central american Baseball stars play in the United states. Really good site for all things soccer and no sensationalist transfer rumor headlines which can be seen in other websites. Gives you statics and many new perspectives on the managerial aspect of soccer too not only on the players.

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/us

Traditional Periodical

Updated:bi weekly

         Country of Origin: England

         Language: English

 

12. Reuters is always one of the first news sources that popped up when I searched for keywords online so I decided to just check it from time to time as it too was english and when I needed a quick and well summarized news story it would not let me down, Reuters too is a U.K based news org which made me realize I had too many of them in my list but it was too late to change, as I already had my brazilian source Reuter was too a crutch for my lack of portuguese understanding, no real faults I was able to notice. They have a knack for summarizing things and getting to the point which can be useful when when you really need to absorb information fast. Brazil showed up surprisingly a lot on the main page too.

https://www.reuters.com/

Traditional Periodical + Video/Audio Source

Updated Daily

         Country of Origin: England

         Language: English

 

Country Report: Information Network

Turkey – Jules Albat

 

 

For my previous searches of sources I mainly used google searches. I also used websites like qora.com and reddit.com and search sources because people recommended them.

 

Hürriyet Daily News is a Turkish newspaper who publishes articles in English. This newspaper is owned by the Doğan Media Group which is the media group of a huge conglomerate created by billionaire Aydın Doğan. This could be a problem because this financial group has political, financial and societal interests which are defended by the media group. Consequently, the newspaper’s view reflects the views of one of the richest man in Turkey.

However, the newspaper reports on extremely different subjects from economy, political opinions to local problems. This daily newspaper’s website is updated constantly with articles.

I will subscribe to their RSS feed (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/rss.aspx) and I will integrate it to my daily news feed which I read every morning.

In my opinion, this newspaper is often categorized by its left and secular views which are nowadays in opposition to the views of Turkey’s main party (https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/hurriyet-daily-news/).

 

 

 

Daily Sabah is the website of a daily Turkish newspaper who also publishes in English. It is a very recent newspaper (founded in 2014) and it was labelled as a propaganda tool of the Turkish government by many observers. This might be strange to follow a newspaper which can’t be appraised for its objectivity. However, let’s not forget that Erdogan’s party is the biggest political force in Turkey and that they got 40.87% of the popular vote[1]. We can’t disregard the opinions of this Party. In my opinion, this is why Daily Sabah is an excellent choice since it is labelled as pro-AKP.

The newspaper is updated daily and reports on approximately the same subjects as the previous source of information. Again, I will subscribe to their RSS feed  and I hope I can see both views of an event (the Pro-government view and the leftist view).

 

aujourd’hui la turquie is a French Turkish-based newspaper. It is the only Turkish newspaper published in the French language (This sort of publications where popular during the Ottoman Empire). I chose this newspaper because it publishes a lot of its article in their website. Moreover, the fact that it is the only French Turkish-based newspaper might provide a point of view which I can’t have with my other sources. I think people writing in this newspaper are French people with an affinity to Turkey or Turkish people with an affinity with France and their point of view is valuable. The newspaper has daily article from culture to politics. They even have a web-tv where they have little reports. However, the website has only 6000 likes on Facebook and doesn’t seem to be popular but I still think that it can provide interesting insights. I will again subsribe to the RSS feed.

 

 

https://www.lorientlejour.com/  is a Lebanese daily newspaper in French language that has a clear focus on the middle east. Even if l’Orient le jour specializes in Lebanese news it also reports on Turkish affairs. The newspaper has a clear bias that is tied to the recent history of Lebanese politics. They defend the ideas of the murdered previous prime minister Rafiq Hariri who befriended western countries and Saudi Arabia. In my opinion, this newspaper gives insights from the point of view of the moderate Muslims of the Middle-east, especially Lebanese moderate, on Turkish news. They often critic Erdogan for his tight control of the press. The importance of the newspaper in Lebanon makes it the spokesperson of our Arab friends.  Moreover, the newspaper takes culture very seriously which for me is something that should be appreciated. They have an rss feed which I will subscribe to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turquie News is a French independent internet-only media about Turkey. It specializes in forum and opinion columns of various members of the civil society. Its written in French and the organization is located in France (which means they have more freedom of the speech than if they were in Turkey). This is why I chose this new “media” because it seems freer than the two previous sources, and it has various opinions from different members of the society. The website isn’t updated daily, but there is a new article at least two to three times per week. It also has many press packs on diverse topics. As always I will add their RSS feed to my daily news consumption (RSS link)

 

My other new media source is “The Centre for Eastern Studies”. It describes itself as “an independent public research institution monitoring the events and analysing the socio-political and economic processes taking place in […] Turkey.” Unfortunately (for me) the center for Easter Studies focuses on a large spectrum of countries and Turkey isn’t in the spotlight often. However, the few analyses I have read were quality insights and thoughtful commentaries on Turkey’s actions. It really helped me understand some specific situations such as the delicate situation in Afrin, Syria where Turkish troops entered Syrian soil. This sole analysis justified its inclusion in my Information Network. The source seems unbiased (or have an polish/European point of view because the Center is in Warsaw).I will again use the RSS link. I found this website thanks to the Global Newspaper Sources in English.

 

 

 

Finding my social media source has been difficult because most social medias in Turkey are under attack. YouTube was banned for a long time and when riots begin social media access is impossible. Moreover, most Turkish people write their Tweets or their social media posts in Turkish which I can’t read. This is why I decided to look at French people who lived in Turkey and who tweet about Turkish matters. Fatih Karakaya is a freelance journalist who specializes on Turkish matter. He posts daily in French and in Turkish (which I am learning so it will also make me practice Turkish).  He is a left leaning ecologist journalist. I will follow him on Tweeter.

I wanted to find another dissident point of view for my social media sources for the following reason. Since Erdogan’s ideology is controlling most of the press and everything that is thought, written or discussed publicly in Turkey is monitored it Is difficult to find an open dissident source with traditional medias. However, twitter allows people to express their views of Turkey (as long as the person is not in Turkey) and some journalist have good insights. I chose this source thanks to this clickbaity article : Erdogan Banned Turkish Reporter From Twitter Because He Doesn’t Care What You Think. This article just says tht twitter was asked by Turkey to ban this journalist account. Mahir Zeynalov is Chief Editor of The Globe Post, he was deported from Turkey for his views. He tweets a lot and he provides insight on Turkey and shares articles from his newspaper.

 

 

 

While looking at my sources, I found that I didn’t have an American source which is I think more than needed because of the importane of the United States in world politics. I chose the New York times for the abundance of articles it produces. I will use this link: https://www.nytimes.com/search/Turkey/newest which will give me the latest news on Turkey from the New York Times. This source produces daily articles on Turkish politics (Often on its foreign policies) and it will gave me the point of view of a democrat American Newspaper. The source will often just report news without giving really new insights (because it is not its focus) but every now and then it will give me a point of view or a comment which would not be possible from the other sources. This is in my opinion my weakest source because the New York Times, as good as the journal is, does not specializes on the Middle-East, and if they have journalist who does, they have to write a lot of article from many Middle-Eastern countries. But I still think it is very important to have an American newspaper.

 

 

 

 

My data source is turkstat, a government-based website which provides statistics on many subjects such as the economy, the demography, etc. Even if the website is from the government, statistics are numbers which can’t be changed.  It compiles data on Turkey. I chose this website as my data source because it seems to have an exhaustive number of statistics. The website only has raw data and is updated when it has new stats to publish.

My new data source is the worldbank which provides international statistics. This website will help me double check some statistics. It is not publicly owned by Turkey like turkstat which is why it is in my opinion more reliable.

 

My last source is the Turkey Radio Television (TRT) which is a radio from the government of Turkey. It has programs in 26 languages including English and French. It has daily news on international and Turkish matters. According to Wikipedia TRT aims to “enhance the understanding of the possibilities Turkey and Turkic republics may possess or take advantage of in various fields through the programs aiming at the Caucasus and central Asia.”[2] It gives the government opinions on it different program. I think I chose this news because after hearing different radio programs this one was the best radio in English language that was based in Turkey. (I think this radio is also aimed at all the Turkish emigrants which I think gives an interesting perspective – How should a Turkish emigrant think about Turkish foreign policies.)

 

I chose a German daily show (news show) for my visual source. Tagesschau is a publicly funded TV program produced by the German public TV channel. Tagesschau often include stories about Turkey because of the many Turkish people living in Germany. The source is pro-eu but the program is highly respected in Germany. I already watch this show every other day, so it won’t be really difficult to catch stories on Turkey. I think it will provide an interesting contrast between TRT, the Turkish-public radio and Tagesschau because they are both public but represent different countries. If I miss a Tagesschau program I can go on their website to see each story on Turkey thanks to this link :https://www.tagesschau.de/thema/t%C3%BCrkei/

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I look at all my sources I feel that Turkey is really becoming an autocracy. Every dissident newspaper in Turkey is closing or is bought by the regime without much opposition and the only way to get information which is not APK-biased is to read exiled journalist or dissident newspapers. This is really sad as I learned in school that Turkey was one of the only long lasting (but not stable) democracy in the Middle-east which didn’t succumb to the extremism of Islam.

 

 

 

 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_general_election,_June_2015

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRT_T%C3%BCrk

Traditional Periodicals:

The Guardian: El Salvador is an international newspaper that covers stories about politics, society, sports, etc. from around the world and I am using it as one of my Traditional Newpapers. The founder of the Guardian newspaper was C. P. Scott who was a British journalist, publisher and politician who pursued a liberal agenda in his newspaper. This news source is updated fairly frequently (about once a week) depending on what major events are happening within El Salvador.
This website is accessed at https://www.theguardian.com/world/el-salvador , on Facebook: The Guardian and on Twitter: @guardian
I chose this news source because it is a world-renowned source of news covering a plethora of issues in El Salvador but the country of origin for this news source is London, United Kingdom. This is a primary news source written in English which relays information to the rest of the world on what major events that are taking place in El Salvador. The Guardian: El Salvador website is organized so one can easily visit the different features of culture, sports, politics etc. and displays the most recent news about El Salvador at the top of the website with a left margin that shows when a particular news story was published. The perspective of this source was originally a liberal perspective but now it is more unbiased while displaying information on both sides of the issues discussed. The strength of this source is that it is in English which is one of the most used languages around the world, it has an unbiased view in it’s articles which will receive a bigger audience from all standpoints. The Weaknesses of the Guardian is that it only releases articles on major issues happening within El Salvador, so it doesn’t update every day and is therefore inconsistent and unreliable to depend on for daily information in El Salvador. Another weakness for this article is that because it is based out of London, it has a first world perspective on third world issues taking place in El Salvador and may display an unknowingly biased view. I feel that this source is valuable for people wanting to learn more about El Salvador because it displays an unbiased view from a first world perspective on the important events taking place in El Salvador and the articles are written in English so a broader audience can read them.

TIME: El Salvador is an online magazine source in English which I am using for my Magazine (second Traditional) source. The organization behind TIME wanted to create brief article on true events which is how this magazine began. TIME magazine doesn’t update as recently as my other sources, although it does display the most crucial news weekly.
This online magazine is located at http://time.com/tag/el-salvador/ as well as their social media pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
TIME originated in the United States in 1923 and is written in English. This magazine has several articles on the front of the page with the most popular featured on the right side including any category you can think of. The perspective of TIME is just to release the important stories which will get readers to buy their magazine. The strength of this source is that it is in English and has several topics. The weaknesses of this source is that it doesn’t release information straight from El Salvador. I chose this source because TIME magazine is a well-known magazine which features all the top stories in the world weekly.

El Mundo is what I will be using for my Traditional Newspaper source. The organization behind El Mundo has a center-right and liberal view while writing their articles. This source is updated daily with news from all over Spain and the Spanish speaking world. One can find information for national and international news such as entertainment, politics, and sports on this website. El Mundo is written in Spanish, so although I do not speak Spanish, I could easily put these articles through an online translator to receive information from the area of the world surrounding my country of El Salvador.
This source is accessed at http://elmundo.sv/ and also on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram under the name El Mundo.
The country of origin is Spain and the language is Spanish. One can find information for national and international news such as entertainment, politics, and sports on this website. This source has a liberal perspective. The strength of this source is that it is from another Spanish speaking country so the information can be understood by the Salvadorans. The weakness of this source is that Spain is far away from El Salvador so it probably won’t have the most accurate or updated information. I chose this source because it is very credible with an international point of view of El Salvador and although the target audience are a Spanish speaking audience, I am more than able to translate these articles to make them usable for myself.

CountryWatch is the source I will be using as my final traditional periodical. The organization behind this source has members with strong academic backgrounds and extensive international business experience which allows CountryWatch to provide critical country-specific information and data to public and private audiences/organizations. This source is updated frequently with GDP information and other recent data for 2018 already available.
This source is accessed at http://countrywatch.com/Intelligence/CountryReviews?CountryID=53 and on Facebook and Twitter as Country Watch.
CountryWatch doesn’t necessarily have a country of origin although most of the people in charge of the organization are from the United States. The language of this source is English so most of the world which has internet should be able to read this source. This source displays current data and important issues taking place within countries. The perspective of this source is an international perspective with no bias to any particular country, just data. The strengths of this source are that it is in English so a lot of the internet world can read it and it includes important data for every country so it is extremely useful if you want to use a single website for multiple country statistics. The weaknesses of this website is that it doesn’t have a local perspective so it may not have the most recent or accurate data. I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about El Salvador because it is in English and includes recent data and statistics pertaining to El Salvador, as well as all other countries, from a international perspective.

New Media Sources:

DiarioLatino.net is a Spanish language newspaper which derives from San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital. I am using this as my New Media source since the online Diario Latino was just founded in 2008. The organization behind DiarioLatino promotes a leftist view since 1989 when the employees stopped receiving pay, they switched from from a right-wing to the most prominent left-wing newspaper. This newspaper includes national, international, economic, sports, politics, etc. news with daily updates and articles. This news source is updated daily so it will be one of my best sources to use for current events.
This website can be accessed at http://diariolatino.net/ It can also be found on Facebook as Diario Latino and on Twitter @DiarioLatino.
The country of origin for this source is El Salvador and the language is Spanish. Even though I do not speak Spanish, I do speak French so maybe there are some cognitive words that will help me to understand this newspaper. Also, I can always try to translate the article online which would help me to better understand the material. Entertainment, Politics, Sports, etc. can be found on this source. The perspective of this source if a leftist perspective. The strengths of this source is that it covers several topics while deriving from San Salvador the nation’s capital, so it will have the most recent and accurate news. The weaknesses of this source is that it is in Spanish so there is a language barrier for many internet users and it is a biased site since it comes from a Leftist background so they may choose to eliminate or highlight certain political details depending on what makes them look good. I chose this news source and believe it is important since it is coming from within the countries capital, therefore it should have more information on what is happening in El Salvador and it covers a wide variety of topics.

Latin America Working Group (LAWG) is the Blog website I will be using as my New Media source. The organization behind LAWG is meant to amplify activists’ voices in Washington DC and offer them tools to expand their ability to influence U.S. foreign policy. This source receives new blogs spontaneously so it could be daily or weekly depending on what is going on in the world and who decides to blog on it.
LAWG is accessed at http://lawg.org/component/taxonomy/term/summary/223/68 and also on Facebook and Twitter by the same name.
LAWG is originated in the U.S. and has the blog posts in English. One can find information over several subjects including politics, social movements and government actions including those of the U.S. This organization has a Leftist view since it wants to help create policies for Latin Americans abroad and in the U.S. The strength of this blog cite is they are free to discuss important issues on foreign policy without being forced to have a filter by the government and it’s in English. The weakness of this blog is they are a non-profit, so they must self-sustain in order to continue their organization. I chose this source because it is extremely credible including information such as the address, phone number and email as to where one can easily contact this organization. It also allows the possibility to hear various points-of-view from several people. Although the target audience is mostly a Spanish speaking audience, this blog site allows you to translate the page if you wish, which is extremely helpful.

Social Media Sources:

Salvador Sanchez is the Twitter account name for the President of El Salvador, Salvador Sanchez Ceren. I am using the Twitter account of President Sanchez as my Social Media source. The organization behind Twitter has no political views, Twitter is just used to share thoughts and pictures, although Ceren is from the Leftist party. This source is constantly updated and President Sanchez tweets approximately every day, usually several times a day which will make this source very handy in keeping up with the most current events happening within El Salvador.
This source is accessed at https://twitter.com/sanchezceren?lang=en
Twitter is based out of the United States but is used worldwide, and the original language if English but it now includes most languages. Although Ceren’s Twitter account is written in Spanish, I am able to translate the page to English so I can understand it better. I chose this source because the President of El Salvador tweets about all the social, political, economic, and entertaining events that happen in El Salvador. In addition, he seems to be a part of most of these events as well, so he will have an insider view which is also inclusive. This source’s strengths are that it will be one of my most useful sources since I will be getting a direct insider view of events in El Salvador and am able to read it in my native language. The negatives of this source is his tweets are probably super biased with a Leftist perspective. This source is valuable for El Salvador because it is interesting to see what information the president wants to promote on his personal account. While President Sanchez posts about the current events taking place in El Salvador, this also has helped me find other twitter accounts and websites to use as future sources and to find more in depth information. In addition, he seems to be a part of most of these events as well, so he will have an insider view which is also inclusive.

Oscar Ortiz is the Facebook account I will use for my Social Media source. The organization behind Facebook does not have a political view but Ortiz is currently the Vice President for El Salvador for the Leftist party, although he will be running for President in the upcoming elections as an independent. This source is constantly updated and Ortiz posts on Facebook almost every day.
This source can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/
The country of origin is the United States and it is in English. This source displays any type of information but I will receive the political views that Ortiz wants to promote on his page. The perspective of this source is currently left-wing but will change soon when Ortiz runs for president. The strengths of this source is that it updates constantly and I enjoy this source because you can receive information from individuals as they want to display it rather than how the media wants everyone to receive the information. The weaknesses of this source are it is very biased and the information can be inconsistent. I chose this source because it is updated daily, one can find news about any part of the world from any part of the world depending on who you follow, and the target audience is anyone with a Facebook.

Audio/Video Sources:

wwiTV.com is an online Television source that broadcasts straight from San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. The organization behind this source has no political leverage, they just display television for entertainment. This source shows the most recent broadcasts from Canal 33. This source updates constantly showing the most recent broadcasts and live streams of the most important events happening in El Salvador, so it will be a great source for me to keep up with.
This online television source can be found at https://wwitv.com/tv_channels/b4523.htm. Also on Facebook as wwiTV and on Twitter @wwiTV.
This source originates from El Salvador and is in Spanish and does not include English subtitles, but I am sure once I see a video of importance to El Salvador, I can look up the translation and use the information from there. I chose this as my television source because although wwiTV isn’t completely about El Salvador, Canal 33 comes directly from the nation’s capital. I chose this as my Television website because it includes content of national programs committed to the Salvadorian society, opinion, and entertainment. There is no certain perspective of this source but the strength is that it is from the nation’s capital with visuals to go with the information and the weakness is that it is in Spanish which many people don’t understand.

Radio Cadena YSKL is a radio station on Streema.com and is the Radio/Audio source that I will be using. The organization behind this radio station is from San Salvador and updates constantly so it will include the most recent, non-biased, and intriguing information for a broad audience. 5/5 stars and most listened to.
This source can be accessed at https://streema.com/radios/Radio_YSKL_Corporacion , also on Facebook and Twitter at Radio Cadena YSKL
This source is originated from El Salvador and is in Spanish. Although most of the radio stations on Streema are targeted to Spanish speakers, at the bottom of the page, the website allows you to choose the language English, Dutch, French, Portuguese or Spanish so it is accessible to nearly everyone. This source gives information such as News, Sports, Entertainment and Community information straight from San Salvador, the nation’s capital. Radio Cadena YSKL has a national, local perspective and is reliable with all the information you need to determine so at the bottom of the page. The strengths of this source is that it has all the information one needs to determine that it is reliable and includes non-biased information to a broad, all-inclusive audience within El Salvador. Another strength of this source is that although the original language is Spanish, it can be translated into English and other commonly used languages. The weakness of this source is that it is in Spanish so that limits the listening audience unless you want to go through the work to translate. I chose this source because I feel it includes information that is currently taking place in El Salvador with an un-biased view so it will include all details that are available for a broad audience since it gives information of several subjects. This station is rated 5/5 stars and it one of the most listened to stations on Streema so I believe it is a great source to get the general ideals of Salvadorans on these subjects.

Radio Progreso 90.5 is another radio station on Streema which is the third Radio/Audio source that I will be using. This source is updated constantly and is backed by a group with a religious, family-oriented incentive from San Salvador.
This source is accessed at https://streema.com/radios/Radio_Progreso_2 as well as on Facebook and Twitter under Radio Progreso 90.5.
The country of origin for this source is El Salvador with the language being Spanish. This station broadcasts straight from San Salvador, the nation’s capital, providing Christian Religious Teachings, Music and programs as a family friendly, educational, and religious station. The perspective of this source is national and religious, so it may not be as accepting of other religious groups but it will display the most current Christian events in San Salvador as well as family friendly news. The strength of this source is that it comes straight from El Salvador’s capital so it has the most current and likely the most accurate information on the subjects that this station covers. The weakness of this radio station is that it only covers family friendly and Christian issues so it will be extremely biased with the information it displays and it doesn’t attract a broad audience. I find this source valuable for those wishing to learn more about El Salvador because it gives a religious perspective while still broadcasting important issues in El Salvador and keeping a family-friendly discussion. This is a useful source because I have no other sources with this perspective and since it is constructed from within San Salvador, I assume the information to be updated frequently and accurate.

Data Sources:

Global Stats: Stat Counter is an online social media data base which I am using for my data source. The organization behind Global Stats is based in Dublin and counts the stats based on hits. This information is free until one uses advanced services, then it costs a small amount. Global Stats is an international website which displays the most up to date social media stats from all over the world. This page uploads once a month so it doesn’t display information too often, although while using over 15 billion page views per month to get their statistics, I understand why they must only update once per month to get a correct analysis of the world’s current social media stats.
One can reach this source at http://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats/all/el-salvador on Facebook as StatCounter and on Twitter @statcountergs
This source is originated from Ireland and is in English. The stats include those of Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. There is an international perspective form this source which doesn’t affect the data since it is all based on statistics. The strength of this website is it uses concise data and a smart strategy to get it. The weakness is this site has only updates once a month. I chose this source because although it is run out of Dublin, Ireland, the stats from around the globe are based on over 15 billion page views per month. Therefore, I believe that these stats are very precise. Even though they will only update once a month, they may release other interesting information about the stats in El Salvador on their social media pages.

Development Initiatives is the Data source that I will be using. The organization behind Development Initiatives is working towards ending extreme poverty by 2030 by making data and information on poverty and resource flows transparent, accessible and useable. Data such as government spending, revenue, wages, GDP and other important national data can be found on this source. One can find domestic and international government spending on this website. This source is not updated very frequently, the last time was in 2017, although it includes some descriptive data on government financing.
This source can be found at http://data.devinit.org/country/el-salvador and also on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter under the same name.
I chose this source because it is a reliable international source based out of England and Wales, giving an alternative perspective of the events happening within El Salvador. The target audience includes anyone who can read English or is able to translate the page. All financial data including wages, taxes, revenues, etc. can be found through this source. This source has an international perspective since it is based in England and Wales, but is unbiased since it is displaying publicly available data. The strengths of this source are that it has lots of financial data and information of each country and can be used for finding data world-wide. The weaknesses of this source are that it is not updated frequently and with an international perspective it may not have the most accurate information. I feel this source is valuable because the organization behind the source is working toward a great global goal and there is useful information on this website when it is updated.

El Salvador: Final Information Network

Continue reading El Salvador: Final Information Network →

Chile Final Network Report

 

1. Traditional Periodicals
   1. National newspaper (Spanish, Chile)
      1. El Mercurio
      2. El Mercurio S.A.P. (Sociedad Anónima Periodística)
      3. Traditional newspaper, national news spanning a variety of topics (politics, sports, arts, culture, etc). Right wing and conservative.
      4. Updated everyday, daily newspaper
      5. I selected this source because it is the oldest and biggest Chilean newspaper
      6. Strengths: major newspaper, legitimate, longstanding
      7. http://impresa.elmercurio.com/pages/LUNHomepage.aspx?BodyID=1&dtB=2018-02-01

 

1. 1. Regional newspaper (Spanish, Chile)
      1. El Austral Osorno
      2. El Austral
      3. Traditional newspaper, regional news spanning a variety of topics (politics, sports, arts, culture, etc)
      4. Updated everyday, daily newspaper
      5. I selected this source because it covers a Southern region of Chile with a more localized perspective
      6. Strengths: major newspaper, legitimate, longstanding
      7. http://www.australosorno.cl/impresa/2018/01/31/papel/

 

1. 1. National newspaper (Spanish, Chile)
      1. La Tercera
      2. Copesa (Consorcio Periodístico de Chile)
      3. Traditional newspaper, national news spanning a variety of topics (politics, sports, arts, culture, etc)
      4. Updated everyday, daily newspaper
      5. I selected this source because it covers Chilean news with a more radical and liberalized perspective. My other two newspaper sources are more right leaning so I wanted to get a different perspective regarding national news. In addition, Chile recently swore in a new right wing president after 4 years of a central left government. It will be interesting to see how this newspaper covers the new right wing administration.
      6. Strengths: major newspaper, legitimate, longstanding
      7. http://www.latercera.com/

 

 

• Local newspaper (Spanish, Chile)

 

1. 1. 1. El Divisadero
      2. Compañía Periodística e Imprenta Tamango S.A.
      3. Traditional newspaper, local news spanning a variety of topics (politics, sports, arts, culture, etc)
      4. Updated everyday, daily newspaper
      5. I selected this source because it provides local news to a very specific part of Chile. The source is very grassroots and offers a very authentic and localized style of news pertaining to Chile, only offering news in the region. The source has a small Facebook and Twitter following as well.
      6. Strengths: local, authentic, relevant to specific region of Chile
      7. http://www.eldivisadero.cl/home

 

1. New Media
   1. Digital newspaper (Spanish, Chile)
      1. El Mostrador
      2. La Plaza S.A.
      3. First exclusively digital Chilean newspaper. Takes a generalist approach and covers a wide variety of subjects (political, health, social, sports, etc)
      4. Daily digital newspaper, updated daily
      5. I selected this source because it is the first digitized Chilean newspaper. With a diverse coverage, I feel this source will be a great tool for learning about more underground and less covered Chilean issues. In addition, the source categorizes itself as pluralist, which I find to be very interesting and will look into as I read articles from this source.
      6. Strengths: digital, easy to access, relevant
      7. http://www.elmostrador.cl/

 

 

• Digital news coverage (English, United States)

 

1. 1. 1. The New York Times
      2. The New York Times Company
      3. Digital news coverage focusing specifically on Chile from an international perspective, covers a wide variety of subjects (political, health, social, sports, etc)
      4. Updated weekly
      5. I selected this source because it provides a neutral and international perspective regarding Chilean affairs.
      6. Strengths: internationally recognized, legitimate
      7. https://www.nytimes.com/topic/destination/chile

 

1. Social Media
   1. Twitter Account (Spanish, Chile)
      1. Fabián Parraguez, Editor at VozCiudadanaCL
      2. Social media source, tweets about major Chilean news developments, such as earthquakes, national politics, international politics
      3. Updated daily, multiple tweets per day.
      4. I chose this source because the twitter account is from a real Chilean’s perspective and is verified. The source shines light on what a Chilean is paying attention to from a localized perspective commenting on international affairs.
      5. Strengths: real Chilean
      6. https://twitter.com/FabiParraguezM?lang=en

 

 

• Twitter Account (Spanish, Chile)

 

1. 1. 1. Pablo Bello, Economist at the University of Chile. Ex Vice Minister of Chile Telecom
      2. Social media source, tweets about Chile and Latin American developments, how Chile works into the larger scope of the world. References human rights and international politics
      3. Updated multiple times a day
      4. I chose this source because the twitter account is from a real Chilean’s perspective and is verified. The source shines light on what a Chilean is paying attention to at home and abroad.
      5. Strengths: real Chilean
      6. https://twitter.com/pablobello

 

 

• Data

• OECD Data, Chile (English, France)

 

1. 1. 1. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
      2. Data source, updated annually. This source offers a very detailed analysis of Chile’s foundation
      3. I chose this source because it gives a detailed review about the foundation of Chile as a country, including infrastructure, population, debt, energy use, etc. A collection of accurate and relevant data.
      4. Strengths: detailed, legitimate, relevant data, pertinent, graphical
      5. https://data.oecd.org/chile.htm

 

 

• Migration Policy Institute, Chilean Profile (English, United States)

 

1. 1. 1. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
      2. Data source, updated annually.
      3. I chose this source because it succinctly highlights Chilean immigration patterns and offers a vast amount of relevant information that helps my overall understanding of Chile.
      4. Strengths: detailed, legitimate, relevant data, pertinent, graphical
      5. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/chile-growing-destination-country-search-coherent-approach-migration

 

 

• Visual/Audio

• Local News Television Station (Spanish, Chile)

 

1. 1. 1. CANAL VTV-Los Andes
      2. Holding Salto del Soldado Ltda.
      3. Visual source, updated daily. This source is a local Chilean news channel that provides coverage for the Los Andes area. This source is great for getting the most sincere local perspective regarding Chilean regional, national, and international developments. It will be especially interesting to see how the ring winged federal administration is assessed.
      4. Strengths: local, legitimate, detailed, authentic
      5. http://canalvtv.cl/2017/category/los-andes/

 

 

• National News Television Station (Spanish, Chile)

 

1. 1. 1. Televisión Nacional de Chile
      2. State of Chile
      3. Visual source updated daily. This source is Chile’s national state run news channel that provides news coverage nationwide as well as worldwide. Known to be pluralistic and independent. This source is great for getting a sense of state run Chilean media in contrast to local independent run Chilean media. It is also interesting to note that this source broadcasts worldwide, bringing in an international perspective as well.
      4. Strengths: local, legitimate, detailed, authentic
      5. http://www.tvn.cl/

 

Name: The Japan Times

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type: Traditional

Description: The Japan Times is the largest English newspaper in Japan. It hosts a variety of content for users to explore from News and opinions to culture and city guides. The information available is updated daily as they edit and add new content. This source is as a means to develop a conservative view of the many events that unfold in and relating to Japan.

The site can be access at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/

 

Name: The Asahi Shimbun

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type: Traditional

Description: The Asahi Shimbun has offices located in multiple different cities around Japan. Each office provides a different perspective on national news and also a variety of local news sources that might not be available elsewhere. The Asahi Shimbun covers topics related to politics, business, travel, sports, and information on a few other Asian countries.

The site can be access at http://www.asahi.com/ajw/

 

Name: The Akahata Shimbun

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type:Traditional

Description: The Akahata Shimbun is owned by the Japanese Communist Party. The website is entirely in Japanese which makes it hard to read. However,  by searching keywords (in Japanese) related to the communist parties intentions stating by opposing media outlets or political opposition names I can find articles relating to the subject.http://www.jcp.or.jp/akahata/

 

Name: The Mainichi Shimbun

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type: Traditional

Description: Like the Asahi Shimbun has offices located in multiple different cities around Japan.However, The Mainichi Shimbun also covers topics related to politics, business, travel, sports, and information on a few other Asian countries from a more liberal point of view.

The site can be access at http://www.asahi.com/ajw/

 

Name: Loco in Yokohama

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Periodically

Source Type:New Media

Description:This blog is written by an American named Baye McNeil is currently living in Japan. His blogs have covered topics from language translations to controversial topics about race. Baye McNeil’s blogs to show how some foreigners within Japan view events in Japan as the unfold whether it be News related or anything else. Loco in Yokohama helped me shape a more complete thought by combining information gathered from Japanese media, Japanese social media, and foreigner input.

Baye McNeil’s site can be access at http://www.locoinyokohama.com/

 

Name: Twitter Advanced Search Engine

Author: Multiple

Update rate:

Source Type:Social Media

Description: Twitter is an amazing social media platform because of how instantaneous information can be uploaded and shared via tweeting. By setting keywords and certain locations in the advanced search option I will be able to view tweets from Japanese nationals within the designated areas. This was a useful tool as I pieced together news articles and events with the information posted on twitter from Japanese twitter users that I followed. I’ve chose to follow were current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of the LDP and also SNA (Shingetsu News Agency) which is an independent agency operated by former a university lecturer and journalist specializing in West Asian and Japanese History and Politics

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: https://twitter.com/abeshinzo?lang=en

SNA:https://twitter.com/ShingetsuNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

 

Name: Japan Today Facebook

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type: Social Media

Description: The Japan Today Facebook page regularly post news articles from their website. Articles provide insight from Japanese nationals in both english and Japanese on current events.

The data can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/pg/JapanToday/posts/?ref=page_internal

 

Name: NHK World

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type:Audio / Visual

Description: NKH is a television broadcast provider in Japan that covers a wide variety of content. They provide broadcast from all over the country and I believe I can use this source to link together what Japanese media, social media, and a few other sources together in order to get a more complete picture. The site can access https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

 

Name: ANN News

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type:Audio / Visual

Description: ANN News is a television broadcast shown live on youtube that covers a wide variety of content. The ANN however is They provide broadcast from all over the country and I believe I can use this source to link together what Japanese media, social media, and a few other sources together in order to get a more complete picture. The site can access https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

https://www.youtube.com/user/ANNnewsCH/featured

 

Name: News Bank Inc

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type: Data Source

Description: NewsBankInc has a continuously updated news archive that retrieves daily entries from news sources around the world. News Bank Inc has four different Japanese news sources that they acquire their information from. The Japan Times, Japan News, and Kyodo News International which are mostly national news reporting agencies. http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/apps/news/?p=WORLDNEWS

 

Name: Wikipedia

Author: Multiple

Update rate: Daily

Source Type: Data Source

Description: While this may not be a source in the traditional sense, wikipedia has a large database of local, regional, and national newspapers. Many of the websites are in Japanese without any english translations however, with a dictionary they become easier to navigate and provides local focused information in different regions.

This data can be accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_Japan

Editor’s Note: All sources provided are in English or provide English translations.

Traditional

1. The Standard – Sing Tao News Cooperation

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/

Print format, published Monday-Friday. Accessed online, updated daily. Very wide variety of news available through this source as it is one of the top two circulated English newspapers in Hong Kong. Includes local, China, and world news as well as sports, and editorial information. Selected for its large circulation numbers and Hong Kong based ownership versus Beijing owned SCMP.

2. South China Morning Post – Alibaba Group

http://www.scmp.com/frontpage/international

Print format, broadsheet, published daily with weekday specific additional inserts relating to property, racing, technology, education and style. Accessed online. The other of the top two English newspapers in Hong Kong. SCMP has a long history and has circulated almost continuously since 1903. SCMP has been chosen as its source for its high credibility rating among locals. In a 2016 public survey completed by Chinese University of Hong Kong students, it ranked the highest for paid newspapers in the country. Notably they have been acquired by a China based company and have potential for mainland slant.

3. Hong Kong Tattler – Conde Naste

https://hk.asiatatler.com/society

Hong Kong version of the British lifestyle magazine. Updated daily. This source was selected for it’s greater connection to pop culture and lifestyle than others included. Writers are majority Hong Kongers appealing to luxury lifestyles in Hong Kong. Credibility is highly likely as the Tatler is a Conde Naste owned magazine. As Hong Kong has an extremely high GDP/capita and international business hub this source is useful to learn more about current society trends and culture to compliment the larger collection of traditional new, political and economic information included in other sources.

4. Time Out Hong Kong

https://www.timeout.com/hong-kong/news

Lifestyle magazine online. Also selected for its pop culture and human interest pieces. Small writing staff with majority HK natives. Updated daily. Credibility is likely a non-issue because the magazine mostly features non-political, non-controversial subjects. Useful for gaining the cultural vibe of Hong Kong with a less “rich” perspective than Tattler.

 

 

New Media

1. Yue Chim Richard Wong on the Political Economy of HK and China- Dr. Richard Wong

http://wangyujian.hku.hk/?lang=en

Ph.D. holder from the University of Chicago, Richard Wong currently works at Hong Kong University and runs a blog detailing political economy relations between Hong Kong and the PRC. Updated at the beginning of every month, all his newspaper published posts are compiled on the site and sometimes site-specific ones are included as well. This blog was selected for the author’s strong educational background in political economics and impressive CV.

2. Fintech – Christian König

http://fintechnews.hk/

Online website and financial news source with 3 websites focusing on different areas of the world. Updated a few times a week. Owner is a global financial consultant with a history working at many Swiss locations before launching a series of website related to financial news. A brief look at writers involved revels a mixture of Hong Kong authors and international ones. News does not appear to have a specific slant with target audience being those searching for technical financial news.

3. Big Lychee

www.biglychee.com

The most candid of all sources provided. Updated a few times a week. Author provides no personal information or background that is easily accessible but they have been blogging since 2002. Blogging about political and news issues from Hong Kong with extreme bias against free speech and Beijing governmental control. It’s a fascinating read if you’re truly looking for raw opinions about the nation and not for academic sources. See the links page for additional similar content if interested in this type of blogging.

 

Social Media

1. Hong Kong Free Press Twitter

https://twitter.com/HongKongFP

Daily, independent, non-profit news website twitter account. Original news website created as an alternative to allegedly self-censoring SCMP. Chosen for it’s extremely independent journalists and desire for truth. Related sites are currently blocked in China.

2. Demosisto Twitter – Demosisto

https://twitter.com/demosisto

Controversial political party in Hong Kong twitter account. Demosisto (further information in news posts) developed the Umbrella Movement in 2014, a crucial political moment for Hong Kong. Selected for having very independence aimed ideals and interesting young leaders. Demosisto related content is blocked in the mainland. Targeted audience are members of Hong Kong interested in their political ideals as well as the international audience who wants a view of the more radical political views of Hong Kong.

Data Sources

1. Freedom House – U.S. Government Funded/Non-Governmental

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2015/hong-kong

Non-Hong Kong based. NGO. Freedom House is updated yearly with information about the state of freedom and democracy in every country. Very useful for finding statistics as well as curated non-biased data about the state of the SAR.

2. CIA World Factbook

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/hk.html

U.S. governmental agency, extremely through in background information and credibility. Useful for filling in data gaps and more in-depth data Freedom House does not provide. No target audience but users are more likely to be scholars or professionals using data for education or research purposes.

Visual/Audio

1. RTHK – Radio Talk Hong Kong – Government of Hong Kong

http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/news-programmes/this-episode.htm?cmsid=110

Public, government funded news provider. Both video as well as a variety of audio programs can be found here, mostly pertaining to weekly news and public interest. Some shows are updated daily while others are on a weekly basis such as the weekly roundup, done every Sunday, which I plan on listening to. Chosen for its government direct influence as well as wide breadth of content.

2. Hong Kong Free Press YouTube – HKFP

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC36umLEHbPUS-lpucrXPcGQ

Note: While their Twitter is already a source used on this information network, it is extremely difficult to find audio/video news content not in Cantonese.

Different from their Twitter or written articles, we can visually see interviews and first-person recounts of life and news in Hong Kong, an experience entirely different from print. Non-profit, independent. Targets those who are looking for non-mainstream but reputable news.

Country Report: South Africa

 

Traditional periodicals (3)

1. Title: The Sowetan

 

Author / Organization: Tiso Blackstar Group

 

Format/Type of source: Digital & Print

Website Link: https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/about-us/

How often is this source updated: At least once a day

Overview

The Sowetan: A South African newspaper that sends out daily publications. This newspaper kicked things off in 1981 as a liberation struggle newspaper and has done well since then. They are published by the Tiso Blackstar Group and is distributed in English. This newspaper is one that is freely distributed to households in the then apartheid-segregated township of Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province. The website carries exactly the information found in print to facilitate accessing the information if you’re not subscribed or on the go. The Sowetan doesn’t just report on South African news however, it reports on global news as well as news pertaining to Africa in general. Speaking on things like the land invasions in Zimbabwe, South African protests, how political leaders are abusing their positions and power and much more. A particular weakness that I have personally found is the layout of the website. I believe that if the articles featured on the homepage where in chronological order, it would have been easier to keep track of how frequently the website is updated.

 

 

2. Title: The Times

 

Author / Organization: Tiso Blackstar Group

 

Format/Type of source: Digital & Print

Website Link: https://www.timeslive.co.za/

Frequency of update: At least once a day

The Times: An influential South African newspaper outlet who provides constantly updated news which is delivered on a daily basis. The Times is the second biggest South African news website in South Africa and is an offshoot of their “Sunday Times” offering free access to subscribers. Unfortunately, nonsubscribers have to pay in order to gain access to detailed reorts. The good news, however, is that even as a nonmember, you are granted limited access to the website. This news outlet discusses general news, politics, sports, lifestyle, and more. Registration to the TimesLIVE or Sunday Times websites is free and allows the subscriber to give their input on select articles. Their website appears to be updated on a daily basis.

 

3. Title: IOL – Independent OnLine

 

Author / Organization: Independent group in South Africa as well as from news wires like the African News Agency.

 

Format/Type of source: Digital/Online Only

Website Link:  https://www.iol.co.za/

Frequency of update: At least once a day

Overview

IOL: This news media source (Independent OnLine) is one of South Africa’s leading multi-platform content companies featuring independent media that keeps its content frequently updated. The information to which they give their following access to is made up of 20 of South Africa’s most prominent independent newspapers. It is the digital offering of “Independent” bringing immediate access to news in real time to its millions of subscribers. The perspectives offered on the website are refreshing and often unbiased thanks to its nature of collection of independent news outlets. One drawback that I found for this particular source is that you don’t get a clear look at the people providing the news just by reading the “about us” section. Understandable that it’s a team of multiple people, however, having a meet the team section, for example, may really help/appeal to their followers.

 

 

 

 

New media sources (2)

 

1. Title: Inspired living

 

Author / Organization: Fiona Rossiter

 

Format/Type of source: Digital Only

Website Link:  https://www.inspiredlivingsa.co.za/about-me

Frequency of update: At least once a week

Overview

Inspired living: This is a blog in English about South Africa that covers the general living in South Africa and entertainment of course. For the foodies, it provides a couple blog posts on how to have a “festive lunch” with different wines, restaurant reviews and things of that nature, as well as different restaurant suggestions. With currently over 300 posts managed by Fiona Rossiter, a woman who enjoys focusing on decor, fashion trends, restaurants, local wine, and travel, this blog is one of the go-to sites for tourist. Inspired Living South Africa was named runner-up as Best Lifestyle Blog in Africa, in the African Blogger Awards in 2015 and 2016. Inspired Living also won the Category of Best Social Media, in the SA Travel Blog Awards making it an extremely influential yet lighthearted blog. This blog doesn’t necessarily have any weaknesses since the website is easy to navigate and self-explanatory.

 

2. Title: East After Noon

 

Author / Organization: Georgia East

 

Format/Type of source: Digital/Online Only

Website Link:  http://eastafternoon.com/about/

Frequency of update: At least once bi-weekly

Overview

East After Noon: Choosing to browse or review this blog written and edited in English by Georgia East allows for a glance at the fun things to do in South Africa. As a writer, food stylist, photographer, and owner of clothing label “Fortune” in Cape Town, South Africa, East simply sets out to share her passion for food with the world. Although she is a self-confessed Shakespeare groupie who studied to be a wordsmith, her deep passions for both style and food put her in the perfect position to make recommendations that are helpful for both locals and tourists. This light-hearted blog allows gives a sense of simplicity, especially to tourists, to a trip to South African that can be a tad overwhelming.

 

 

 

Social media sources (2)

 

1. Title: EFF South Africa – Economic Freedom Fighters

 

Author / Organization: Not Specified

 

Format/Type of source: Twitter

Website Link:  https://twitter.com/EFFSouthAfrica?lang=en

Frequency of update: At least 5 tweets a day

Overview

EFF: The EEF, along with other South African social media pages received quite a bit more attention as South Africa is trended for a while thanks to Rihanna’s performance of “Gwara Gwara”, a South African originated dance at the Grammy’s! There’s no better place to keep in touch with South African news than Twitter? Even though that’s this trend faded relatively quickly, and not necessarily related to the purpose of this social media at all, South Africa does have other conversations going on twitter and EFF has been part of that conversation. The topics the EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) focuses on typically revolve around its being of a platform that champions radical economic policies in South Africa discussed in English. With over 423,000 followers, they post at least 5 tweets a day about various subjects, giving a slightly more economic aspect to South African News. The only drawback for EEF as far as their twitter page, is that they are very passionate about the things they discuss. And with that passion sometimes comes quite a bit of bias.

 

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2. Title: South African Exposed

 

Author / Organization: Not Specified

 

Format/Type of source: Facebook

 

Website Link:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/southafricexposd/videos/?ref=page_internal

Frequency of update: At least a post a day

Overview

South Africa Exposed: A well-known English based South African Facebook page that shares a little bit of everything with its fan base. It isn’t just focused on policies, law makers, and things of that nature. Their goal is to focus on and expose everything relative to South Africa, whether it be good, bad, or ugly. This source is useful for young adults and adult. One of the downfalls to this social media page is that it isn’t necessarily suitable to all because they don’t sensor out some things. They hold true to their promise of providing everything about South Africa as well as other nations. It’s an important source because it gives various perspectives without the need for bias.

 

 

 

Audio / video sources (3)

 

1. Title: SABC – South African BroadCasting

 

Author / Organization: SABC – Group of dedicated individuals

 

Format/Type of source: Online

 

Website Link:  http://www.sabc.co.za/sabc/

Frequency of update: At least a post a day

Overview

SABC: This a South African broadcasting website that sets to inspire and change enriching, credible, relevant and compelling content that is accessible by all. SABC’s number one focus is to sound and television broadcasting to the Republic of South African and also beyond their borders. Their mission statement is “[t]o educate, inform and entertain all audiences accessing SABC services.” They’re not just focused on providing entertainment, they seek to educate not only their people but also those who dedicate the time to really listen Valuing conversations and partnerships, the restoration of human dignity, and the building of a common future. There weren’t any particular weaknesses that stood out to me.

 

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2. Title: Streema

 

Author / Organization: eNCA

 

Format/Type of source: Online

Website Link:  http://externals.streema.com/tv/play/8395/?language=en

Frequency of update: At least a post a day

Overview

Streema: This South African website is one that offers quite a bit of information as far as entertainment. It is free online website that features online radio tuner discovery for multiple stations and countries as well as providing access to different television stations. One of the television channels I have decided to focus on is eNCA, E-News Channel Africa. eNCA happens to be one of the most watched and trusted television stations in South Africa. After its launch on the 1^st of July in 2008, eNCA set out to become the country’s first 24-hour television news service. It offers its viewers live reports, breaking new, sport, weather, entertainment, and business updates. This television network is staffed by a dedicated team of developers and editorial personnel who make it possible for upward of 1.5 million monthly users to have an immersive experience.

 

 

 

3. ­­­Title: All Africa

 

Author / Organization: Not Specified

 

Format/Type of source: Online

 

Website Link: http://allafrica.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/list/resource/main/main/doc/all.html

Frequency of update: At least a post a day

Overview

All Africa: This audio and video media outlet is a voice of, by and about Africa – aggregating, producing and distributing news and information from over 140 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. Their multi-channel platform is the only independent, comprehensive pan-African news source, with unrivaled reach and reputation. All Africa operates from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Monrovia, Nairobi and Washington DC and publishes around 800 reports a day from more than 140 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. Most of the stories found on the website is from news agencies, newspapers, and publications all over Africa. One of the biggest strengths of AllAfrica is their reflection of diversity in reporting, analysis and commentary. The only downside to accessing this AllAfrica is that it has to be done through the OSU library which requires student login information.

 

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Data sources (2)

 

1. Title: South African Data Portal

 

Author / Organization: Not Specified

 

Format/Type of source: Online

 

Website Link:  //southafrica.opendataforafrica.org/

Frequency of update: Not very frequent, once every couple of years

Overview

South Africa Data Portal: This website is one that is easy to navigate and provides very clear yet detailed data on South Africa. It features the different population sizes of each state and unemployment rates, GDP at market prices, and various demographic maps and charts.With this website, you are given the chance of seeing things from a numbers point of view almost. It gives just the basics and the fundamentals, nothing more and nothing less. It’s a site that does exactly what it’s set out to do, which is to simply provide data. One of its biggest disadvantages, however, is how infrequently it’s updated.

 

2. Title: STATS SA – Statistics South Africa

 

Author / Organization: Not Specified

 

Format/Type of source: Online

 

Website Link:  http://www.statssa.gov.za/

Frequency of update: At least yearly

Overview

The vision and mission statement for STATS SA is very straightforward and to the point. Their vision is to deliver South Africa as the home they know and understand with a mission to lead and partner in statistical systems for evidence-based decisions. The webpage is very clean and uncluttered, giving browsing options such as publications, censuses, suppliers, etc. Posting statistics from economic gains to recent effects mining has had on South Africa over the past couple years. The only weakness and strength pertaining to this website is how thorough the information is. It’s definitely a curse and a blessing because you need to be familiar with different visualizations of data to be able to understand it. On the other hand, it provides great exposure to new forms of visualization with statistics pertaining to South Africa. In addition, their about me section doesn’t per say help you get a clear picture of who is putting together this date.

Traditional Format

• Title: China Daily
• Author/ Organization behind the source: PRC Culture Department (state-owned company)
• Format/ type of the source: “traditional” periodicals, such as newspapers and magazines
• How to access the source: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/
• Updating frequency: everyday
• Detailed description of the source
  • Country of origin: China
  • Language: Chinese, but also translated into more than 20 languages
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: traditional newspaper now with both digital and print versions in various translated languages worldwide. The information is mainly news reports and journals with photos in the source. However, in the digital version to check out online, few videos can be found.
  • The source’s perspective: It is more like a platform to keep the pace with China’s development by timely acquire the news of new achievements.
  • Strengths and weaknesses: China Daily is not really a good English learning material, because many expressions are “Chinese characteristics English.” The “Chinese characteristics” here refers to the fact that certain words, sentences, and contents can only be understood by the Chinese people. For native speakers of English, these expressions are very incomprehensible. Although the company is established in China as its main location site, it holds nearly 45 million print and web readers worldwide, and its global circulation accelerates around 900,000 copies.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: As for the fact that China Daily can reflect the status quo in China, China Daily is like a news network to simply state out what’s now Chinese government is doing. I chose this newspaper because it is one of the most-frequently quoted Chinese media around the world. It is a national English-language newspaper founded in 1981. In addition, it covers domestic (China) and world news through nine print editions and digital media.

 

• Title: The Economist Magazine
• Author/ Organization behind the source: The Economist has been editorially independent since it was founded in September 1843 to take part “in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.” The share capital of The Economist Newspaper Limited, The Economist Groups parent company, is divided into ordinary shares, special shares, special shares and trust shares.
• Format/ type of the source: “traditional” periodicals, such as newspapers and magazines
• How to access the source: https://www.economist.com/
• Updating frequency: every week
• Detailed description:
  • Country of origin: The United Kingdoms
  • Language: English
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: like China Daily, The Economist also includes both digital and print versions. In print versions, the type of information in the source is conventional magazine with quick piece news and journals with pictures or cartoons, as well as data visualizations.
  • The source’s perspective: As an international news magazine, The Economist incorporates a special section for China’s news. However, the authors in this section to report China or Chinese government are nearly all western journalists, as stereotype criticizing China’s dictatorship.
  • Strengths and weaknesses: on its official website, besides digital version of each report, there are also a lot of video links and audio conversational reports for the public to approach. It was one of the international traditional magazines that include a large portion of China’s news in its international section. Readers are able to understand how people from outside China regard the images of my own country, but just from western elites scholars’ standpoints.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: I chose this for people who want to know about China because the magazine has known to nearly everyone who holds a little bit knowledge about history, created in 1843 to campaign against the Corn Laws. This magazine is popular worldwide and I have been subscribing it since I entered college. In addition, I chose this also because it was one of the traditional magazines that include a large portion of China’s news in its international section.

 

• Title: HKFP-Hong Kong Free Press
• Author/ Organization behind the source: Hong Kong Free Press is a non-profit English language news source seeking to unite critical voices. Free and independent, HKFP launched in 2015 amid rising concerns over declining press freedom in Hong Kong and during an important time in the city’s constitutional development.
• Format/ type of the source: “traditional” periodicals, such as newspapers and magazines
• How to access the source: https://www.hongkongfp.com/
• Updating frequency: everyday
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: Hong Kong, China
  • Language: mainly Chinese and English
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: like the former two, HKFP also includes both digital and print versions. In print versions, the type of information in the source is conventional magazine with quick piece news and journals with pictures or cartoons, as well as data visualizations. In addition, on its official website, besides digital version of each report, there are also a lot of video links and audio conversational reports for the public to approach.
  • The source’s perspective: These total three traditional information formats I collect would be a division of standpoints to look at China. China Daily is the positive way, The Economist is the neutral and object one, while HKFP is the strongly offensive and opposite perspective towards China mainland.
  • Strengths and weaknesses: HKFP illustrates how the same news interpreted differently from two stances with same mother language. Its characteristics of criticizing China’s limits on freedom, sovereignty, and human rights are the attractions for me to research my country’s information. The considerable repudiator would bring another perspective on how decisions of Chinese government may actually affect or even persecute people from another region or political party.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: HKFP aims to be the most independent and credible English-language news source in Greater China. We seek to amplify the voices of the voiceless, not the powerful. And our platform will act as a monitor should Hong Kong’s core values and freedoms be threatened. The HKFP team is fully committed to reporting the facts, without fear, favor or interference.

 

New Media Website

• Title: Global Voices
• Author/ Organization behind the source: Global Voices is incorporated in the Netherlands as Stichting Global Voices, a nonprofit foundation. The Global Voices community is comprised of volunteer contributors and contracted staff, governed by a board of directors. Read more about our work in our annual reports, which incorporate our annual financials.
• Format/ type of the source: “new media” text-based sources such as blogs and websites
• How to access the source: https://globalvoices.org/
• Updating frequency: will update when journalists have new articles to discuss
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: Netherlands
  • Language: more than 40 languages
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: Global Voices construct the conversation on citizen media reporting since 2005. They curate, verify and translate trending news and stories you might be missing on the Internet, from blogs, independent press and social media in 167 countries. Sometimes the information also includes articles scattered in bits and pieces across the Internet, in blog posts and tweets, and in multiple languages.
  • The source’s perspective: neutral analysis on China’s current news and unbiased critical thinking. Sometimes, the section about China also includes a lot of voices from the public collected through Twitter and Facebook.
  • Strengths and weaknesses: Although it is ineffective to update some countries’ news, it is intriguing to find that its China’s news section is quite in trend. In addition, there are a considerable number of news posts about women, gender, and sexualities, which is the exact direction I am trying to research more. I would check it twice a week to some extent. In addition, online readers can find translated stories from more than 40 languages.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: I chose this source as information network because its operation approach is innovative and trust worthy. The team groups are completely virtual and don’t have a physical office, but work as a virtual community across multiple time zones, often from our homes, cafés or public libraries. People in Global Voices meet in-person during biannual Summits. The authors are experts in the areas they write about and every story published on Global Voices is vetted by members of our impressive editorial team. It follows a rigorous editorial code inspired by the Society of Professional Journalists.

 

• Title: All Africa
• Author/ Organization behind the source:com is a website that aggregates news produced primarily on the African continent about all areas of African life, politics, issues and culture. The owner of the website is AllAfrica Global Media company. It has offices in Cape Town, Dakar, Lagos, Monrovia, Nairobi, and Washington, D.C.. AllAfrica is the successor to the African News Service.
• Format/ type of the source: “new media” text-based sources such as blogs and websites
• How to access the source: http://allafrica.com/
• Updating frequency: everyday
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, Liberia, Kenya, and the United States
  • Language: English and French
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: The current news and the archived news stories that the site presents are organizable by pull-down menus; the 1000 or so stories that are presented daily can be displayed by categories and subcategories such as country, region, and by dozens of standard news topics like business news, sports news, culture, climate, military, NGOs, World Cup, etc.
  • The source’s perspective: Most of the stories viewers read on this site come from newspapers, news agencies and publications all over the African continent. They aggregate and distribute the reporting of more than 130 media organizations.
  • Strengths and weaknesses: All Africa reflects the diversity of reporting, analysis and commentary from as many as possible of the influential media in every country. They include government and opposition-controlled papers, as well as the growing number of independent, professional news publications across the continent. In this way, we provide access to a full range of what Africans themselves are saying, thinking and publishing — a unique compilation of information that is valuable to policy makers, businesses, non-governmental organizations, scholars and journalists, as well as to the general public.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: I chose this source because of the mutual importance of China and Africa diplomatic influences on each other. China includes at least four major national interests in Africa: political, economic, security, and ideology. Because of the large number of African countries, which hold considerable voting scales, China seeks African support for the Communist Party’s domestic political status and foreign policy agenda, especially in multilateral forums. Africa’s abundant natural resources and untapped market potential have created numerous business opportunities for Chinese business participants. However, China’s economic presence in Africa continues to intensify, and it also poses challenges for China’s investment in Africa’s prosperity and national security. So far, this is China’s security priority in Africa. Since China has promoted the “democratization of international relations”, the success of the “China model” and good relations with non-democratic countries in Africa have become increasingly important goals for China’s internal affairs and diplomacy.

 

Social Media Source

• Title: Sina Weibo
• Author/ Organization behind the source: Sina Company.
• Format/ type of the source: Social media sources
• How to access the source: Through Sina Weibo App with an account
• Updating frequency: every second
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: China
  • Language: Chinese
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: Users can post messages or upload photos via web pages, WAP pages, mobile clients, SMS, MMS. Sina can understand Weibo as a “micro-blog” or “sentence blog.” Users can write what they see, hear, and think of in words, or send a picture, share it with friends anytime, anywhere through their computer or mobile phone, share and discuss together, and they can also pay attention to their friends and see friends instantly.
  • The source’s perspective: Sina Weibo is one of the best platforms for releasing exclusive information. Sina Weibo is, in a sense, “a never-ending news conference.” It provides an unprecedented and simple way for people and organizations to publicly express themselves in real time, interact with others on a massive global platform and stay connected with the world.
  • Strengths and weaknesses: Sina Weibo has become one of the important sources of media monitoring and tracking of emergency news. The press conference is the place where information is published, and where the news happens, it means that the changes in Sina Weibo itself are worth reporting. This fully proves McLuhan’s point of view – “media is information.” The commercialization of the Sina Weibo platform will mainly rely on self-service advertising and value-added application.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: I chose it because it is more formal than a twitter but casual than a post blog, holding the largest user population in China. Weibo is a leading social media platform for people to create, distribute and discover Chinese-language content. Also, the users include ordinary people, celebrities, and other public business, government agencies or organizations.

 

• Title: Zhi Hu
• Author/ Organization behind the source: Zhi Hu completed the $22 million Series B round of financing led by Softbank Wealth, and C round financing 55 million US dollars, the new investors for Tencent and Sogou, Tencent lead.
• Format/ type of the source: Social media sources
• How to access the source: Through Zhihu App with an account
• Updating frequency: every second
• Detailed description
  • Country: China
  • Language: Chinese
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: Zhihu is an online Q&A community that connects users from all walks of life. Users share each other’s knowledge, experience and insights, providing a variety of information for the Chinese Internet. To be precise, knowing is more like a forum: users engage in relevant discussions around a topic of interest, and they can focus on people with similar interests. For a conceptual explanation, the Web Encyclopedia covers almost all your questions; but for the integration of divergent thinking, it is a major feature to know.
  • The source’s perspective: various descriptive opinion and analysis on scholar topics
  • Strengths and weaknesses: Zhi Hu is more exclusive than the forum, each registered user has a PR (Person Rank), and each of your operations will directly affect your personal PR value. When answering, the answer sequence is sorted by the number of votes in favor, and if the number of votes is the same, it is sorted by the individual’s PR value, and the answer that is considered invalid is hidden. This filters considerable spam to a certain extent.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: I chose Zhi Hu as a valuable source because of high authority of the answers on the website based on the credit-based SNS relationships. This also almost negates the possibility of any large Internet company entering the Quora Q&A. Because large-scale Internet companies generally have a wide audience, Quora-based quizzes are not simply based on sentiment, but value-to-information ratios (value information/total information volume), that is, the amount of elite information generated.

 

Data sources

• Title: CNKI
• Author/ Organization behind the source: Tsing Hua University
• Format/ type of the source: data source
• How to access the source: http://www.cnki.net/
• Updating frequency: will update when scholars have new articles to publish
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: China
  • Language: Chinese
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: Journals, newspapers, doctoral dissertations, conference papers, books, patents, etc. Therefore, the content of CNKI has extremely high collection value and use value of literature, which can serve as a basis for academic research and scientific decision-making.
  • The source’s perspective: neutral, database for Chinese scholar’s researches and reports
  • Strengths and weaknesses: Based on the detailed indexing of document content, CNKI literature search provides search functions for titles, authors, keywords, abstracts, and full-text data items. The knowledge clustering function provided by CNKI literature search is not available for general search engines. Based on the fast clustering algorithm, the knowledge points of the returned results are clustered, and the main knowledge points are displayed to the user, helping the user to improve the search expression and expand the search intention.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: I chose this because it provides a comprehensive gateway of knowledge of China. It would update randomly and frequently based on the articles and researches put. It is a database construction and services group in China as a state-owned enterprise holding by Tsinghua Uniersity. It is dedicsted to integration and dissemination of knowledge, online publishing and related technical services.

 

• Title: UN Data
• Author/ Organization behind the source: United Nations
• Format/ type of the source: data source
• How to access the source: http://data.un.org/
• Updating frequency: once a year
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: no country, United Nations
  • Languages: 5 official UN languages
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: basic data worldwide covering politics, economy, population, transportation, and energy.
  • The source’s perspective: neutral, statistical language to demonstrate the data on various indexes to measure national development
  • Strengths and weaknesses: it is precious to check a lot of information through China’s country report and different divisions in China like demographic and information society. It is an important database in the world, covering politics, economy, population, transportation, and energy. It can be divided into basic data and country profiles, rich in information, access to data from the Internet.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: The United Nations Statistics Division is committed to the advancement of the global statistical system. We compile and disseminate global statistical information, develop standards and norms for statistical activities, and support countries’ efforts to strengthen their national statistical systems. We facilitate the coordination of international statistical activities and support the functioning of the United Nations Statistical Commission as the apex entity of the global statistical system.

 

• Title: World Bank Databank
• Author/ Organization behind the source: The World Bank
• Format/ type of the source: data source
• How to access the source: https://data.worldbank.org/
• Updating frequency: update regularly (quarterly, monthly, annually)
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: no country, The World Bank, basically the United States
  • Languages: 5 official UN languages
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: the Development Data Group coordinates statistical and data work and maintains a number of macro, financial and sector databases. Working closely with the Bank’s regions and Global Practices, the group is guided by professional standards in the collection, compilation and dissemination of data to ensure that all data users can have confidence in the quality and integrity of the data produced.
  • The source’s perspective: neutral, statistical language to demonstrate the data on various indexes to measure national development
  • Strengths and weaknesses: Developing countries face a number of problems in providing statistics that meet these criteria. They often find themselves caught in a vicious cycle—under-investment in national statistical systems constrains activities and results in data of poor quality, which policymakers are unwilling to rely on. This lack of demand for the data leads to fewer resources being made available for their production and quality control. Other than that, the World Bank works closely with the international statistical community including the agencies of the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the regional development banks,
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: although China has its own professional team to study and operate data and statistics, it is hard for ordinary people to look up and have a visit. However, the World Bank Databank includes investments in statistical activities, creating and implementing standards and frameworks for data collection, analysis and dissemination, strengthening the international statistical system, and compiling global data sets. There is also much to be done in raising awareness of the value of statistics among governments, decision makers and other users. As advocates for statistics, we work in close partnership with developing countries and our partners in the international community.

 

Visual and Audio Based Sources

• Title: Videos on CCTV.com
• Author/ Organization behind the source: Chinese Government
• Format/ type of the source: Visual and/or audio-based sources, such as television and radio sites
  • How to access the source: http://english.cctv.com/
• Updating frequency: every day
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: China
  • Language: Chinese and English
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: videos and tv shows programs from various functions such as news dissemination, social education, culture and entertainment, and information services.
  • The source’s perspective: positive on everything going on in China. It is a typical form of media to show the world in China’s perspective.
  • Strengths and Weaknesses: The Central Television Station (CCTV for short, CCTV for short) is a national deputy ministry-level institution directly under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China. Founded on May 1, 1958, it is a news media organization and ideology in China. Cultural sites have various functions such as news dissemination, social education, culture and entertainment, and information services.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: I chose it because of its official characteristic. It is the official news TV reporting in China, while it also has a lot of foreign countries’ website updating global and Chinese news including the United States. It is constantly updated with top news from China and around the world, offering news reports, live and on-demand video content and searchable archives.

 

• Title: TED Talk
• Author/ Organization behind the source: Ted talk company.
• Format/ type of the source: Visual and/or audio-based sources, such as television and radio sites
  • How to access the source: https://www.ted.com/
  • Updating frequency: every day
• Detailed description
  • Country of origin: the United States and Canada
  • Language: English and other more than 40 languages
  • Format/ type of the source and what type of information can be found: There are many types of TED video lectures, including outstanding figures in the fields of science, design, literature, and music, sharing their thoughts and explorations on technology, society, and people.
  • The source’s perspective: various perspective from the speakers to spread their thoughts on diverse topics
  • Strengths and weaknesses: it is intriguing particularly on the project of TEDx, on China’s topics. TEDx’s localized, self-organizing activities can bring people together to share experiences and experiences similar to TED. In the TEDx event, the video of the speech combined with the live speaker inspired a deeper discussion and closer contact within the group. This local, spontaneous activity is called TEDx. “x” represents the TED activity of an independent organization. The TED conference provided general guidelines for the TEDx project, but the individual TEDx events were organized by the (locals) themselves.
  • Why I think this source is valuable for those wishing to learn more about my country: I chose TED as the source because it has a considerable influence of celebrities to increase its authority. Everybody who has the opportunity to come to the TED conference to give a speech has an extraordinary experience. They are either leaders in a certain field or start-ups in a certain emerging field, or they have made certain enough for the society. Innovation to change. For example, Craig Venter, a leader in human genome research, and Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the “One Hundred Dollars Laptop for Every Child” project, single-player Ben Saunders who slid to the North Pole, and contemporary brilliant linguist Steven Pinker. As for stars like Al Gore, it’s a regular visitor to TED.

 

 

Information Network Final Draft

United Arab Emirates الإمارات العربية المتحدة

Traditional Media Source 1:

•The Associated Press

•https://www.ap.org/about/

•Country of Origin: USA

•Language: English (Several Translations including Arabic)

•News: This media source is a traditional international news broadcast media source modeled as a not-for-profit, stationed out of NY, USA. Retaining a high production, value, integrity and clarity of information. Reporting from over 100 countries and 263 different locations across the globe and prominently awarded (52 Pulitzer Prizes) as one of the most unbiased news sources for current events with in-depth news coverage possible with further research through the featured news stories.

•Accessible through the link provided above. (Open/Public)

•Media is updated on a Live/Hourly/Daily timeline with a variety of media formats such as articles, videos (including VR), etc.

•I will check this source weekly to see the latest “top-featured” broadcasts and stories to get a better overall consensus of current events within the UAE

•I selected this media news source due to the previous experience and reliability I have felt in it’s reporting nature as well as its supporting multiple translations of news stories. Such translations include their Arabic News Service which provides 100 items/day translated from source material published by the AP while focusing the content toward Middle Eastern events/subject matter. Click for more on their International Text Services.

Traditional Media Source 2:

•BBC News

•http://www.bbc.com/news 

•Country of Origin: The United Kingdom

•Language: English (Several Translations including Arabic)

•News/Entertainment/Data: Similarities exist between the Associated Press and the BBC in terms of content. However, with the added component of the United Kingdom’s government in collaboration with the sponsorship provides a layer of bias that enables a component of government transparency and solidarity with the public. This is a unique component to their nature as a broadcasting/news source that should be exemplified more widely.

•Accessible through the link provided above. With open information to the public maintaining/providing a fair level to consumer, there is a subscription component that enables more features such as live broadcasts etc. to incentivize not only revenue collection but also a member response/vote system on what types of media they would wish to change/improve.

•Media is updated on a Free – Daily, Subscription – Live basis.

•The transparency/bias that I previously described is a large component as well as the high production value of all of the content produced by the BBC. I will check this with regular similarity to the AP in order to get multiple viewpoints on specific international events within the UAE. Additionally, I believe referring to news presented by a peer ‘Western’ nation, may give a different perspective regarding economic and diplomatic criteria about the United Arab Emirates.

•My experience with this news source began with a simple amusement with their entertainment, specifically their popular car show ‘Top Gear,’ and the jokes and references citing other shows/publications within the BBC contained within the show prompted me to do further research on certain events.

Traditional Media Source 3:

•The National

•https://www.thenational.ae/international

•Country of Origin: The United Arab Emirates

•Language: Arabic & English (Several Alternative Translations)

•News/Data/Religion/Representation/Community Resource: Considering the current socio-political environment around the globe, it is ever more important for regions rich in natural resources or economic power to remain transparent with their business partners/political allies. For fear of alienation leading to resentment by less well off nations, The National recognizes this importance and embraces a role of translating (including Arabic and English) its issues within the region of the Middle East and more specifically the UAE, while identifying stories from beyond its borders into a concise system of reporting. With it’s well organized site, and digital subscription platform of a traditionally modeled newspaper, The National reaches access of 10 million page views per month from within and without the region/country.

•Accessible through the link provided above. Information is open access to the public with a subscription model and ‘relevant’ business and consumer advertising to maintain a uncluttered presentation of news reports.

•Media is updated on a Free – Daily, Live, and subscription basis. Such PDF products and their respective translations are downloadable through any smartphone.

•This organization is committed to its customers being presented with accurate information from around the country and beyond through the perspectives that would make the events and information relatable and comprehensive to it’s local readership first and foremost. This perspective is largely why I chose this source because I often see translated news taking the perspective/influence of western cultures where this represents the Middle Eastern regions well. Additionally The National seems to not inundate its website visitors or subscribers with clutter or non-intuitive software/layout, which lends itself toward being considered more professional compared to its tabloid filled counterparts.

•Through my research on The UAE’s official governmental website regarding the political cabinet and policies of the nation (https://uaecabinet.ae/en/details/news/uae-cabinet-approves-national-tolerance-program or https://government.ae/en/media/media) I have a better understanding of how restrictive the broadcast of news and other information within the country can be at times. I have attempted to remain unbiased in my research and have sought out the best of resources available to me and The National is by far the superior Traditional news/media outlet in the UAE.

New Media Source 1:

•Global Voices

•https://globalvoices.org 

•Country of Origin: Netherlands

•Language: English (Languages of information depends on source, several translations are available depending on information comprising the articles)

•News with Social Media component: Both professional and user based articles, varying in quality depending on the specific work/author. Thorough work can be found through this site and UAE members/citizens can leak their own personal news broadcasts through now ‘illegal,’ VPN use.

•Accessible through the link provided above.

•Media is updated on a Hourly/Daily/user-timed basis. Such contributors to the site are comprised of a majority of volunteer authors, data analysts, online media experts and translators. These volunteers are not restricted by national boundaries and are therefore choose anonymity to provide their information, giving a unique (and somewhat unreliable) glimpse into regions that would otherwise restrict/punish such expressions as treasonable acts against the state. As the UAE has had a difficult past regarding Human Rights, this site provides the sometime missing link in the perspectives of it’s scorned citizenship.

•Since this was my first news source cited by the class as a rich environment for news and since has provided me with unique lessons one media/news research, I find this site engaging, while it is not of the caliber of other news sources listed here I have a strong feeling that Global Voices is a bridge between social media reporting and official news broadcasting.

New Media Source 2:

•Anti-Media

•http://theantimedia.com/ 

•Country of Origin: USA

•Language:  English, articles are material translated from outside sources aimed at USA readership

•News/Internet Radio/Podcast/Data/Anti-news Media Coverage: Anti-Media has taken a firm outspoken position against the news conglomerates that control the majority of the United State’s media coverage. This media site is a rich resource for alternative news that seeks to expose it’s perceived ‘repressed’ truth. I have especially appreciated it’s incorporation of multiple viewpoints broken down by categories including “our news, their news, my news.” This news outlet regards multiple perspectives as valid and vouches for the personal and unbiased approaches to news presentation. By not only covering the main events of the globe but also seeking out the stories that are neglected by the US’s main news outlets, this site renders a unique perspective toward international media consumption by those who live within the US. Since the US’s media consumption is very centrally focused, this site challenges the status quo and attempts to widen the scope of it’s viewers but media coverage. It has specifically chosen to cover the US’s relationship with other nations and how it’s choices affect them and their perspective of the US.

•Accessible through the link provided above. All data and articles are available thanks to donations, sponsorship and funding from a variety of users and fellow organizations that support Anti-Media’s goals.

•Media is updated on a Free – Daily, Live and subscription basis, upon utilization of the later option, users have a choice to download content directly and refer to the information at a later time, unrestricted by internet access. Users also get to respond and request news coverage over specific topics that can be submitted directly to this organization.

•Lack of significant funding and journalists/reporters, limits the capacity of this site to report on the same level of it’s perceived large conglomerate news broadcasting adversaries. However, exposure to international news and events that broaden US media consumption grants a validity to the efforts of this organization which provides further education of US citizens to cultural differences.

•I had previously utilized this news source as an alternative news, website for an introduction toward a technological communications class. With the mixed media content including conspiracy theories and learning of the granted legal rights of media news coverage outlets having the right to ‘lie’ to its consumers regarding world events there was a sufficient wealth of topics that could take advantage of both good and bad media coverage and the way you could learn to discern between them.

Social Media Source 1:

•Amnesty International

•https://twitter.com/AmnestyUAE

•Country of Origin: A wide variety of home offices comprise this international organization including Mexico, Kenya, Hong Kong, the UK, South Africa, Senegal, Lebanon, Tunisia, Jerusalem & Iran.

•Language: Arabic & English (Several Alternative Translations)

•Social media/User Response: Human Rights activity within the UAE specifically citing news sources to a multitude of different reporting agencies.

•Twitter/the link cited above.

•Media is updated on an Hourly/Daily/user timed basis.

•The UAE has had a conflicted track record with Human Rights Activism and following the social reverberations from the public through this news source that utilizes a variety of sources to report the findings and spread awareness about the

•Twitter is one of the largest social media outlets in the world and this includes the UAE with its user base have double the average activity with native Arabic speaking user interactions providing a great resource for personal accounts and perspectives.

Social Media Source 2:

•Fanack: Chronicle of the Middle East & North Africa

•https://twitter.com/fanackmena  

•https://fanack.com/united-arab-emirates/society-media-culture/uae-media/ 

•Country of Origin: The United Arab Emirates

•Language: Arabic & English (Several Alternative Translations)

•Social media/Human Rights/Radio/News/User Response & Participation: Human Rights, News, Radio and Data are combined with user perspective feedback component.

•Accessible through the link provided above. All data used for the content articles and broadcasts produced by this company are cited from internationally recognized institutions. All data and written information is provided by local correspondents and their anonymous sources which prefer to avoid persecution for sharing their perspectives and experiences.

•Media is updated on an Hourly/Daily/Live/International Publication basis.

•Established within the neutral diplomatic territory of the Netherlands during 2010, Fanack presents a wide variety of news from it’s international sources, dedicating its social media and professional sources to recording accurate data per their respective regions. Each Country has a designated portion of the website dedicated to its history, politics, economics, social issues and, more recently the state of water and energy resources across 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

•Fanack’s audience focuses upon readers in the region and beyond. Younger generations are drawn to the platform and its multifaceted , aged 18 to 35. Fanack’s in-depth background files on topics as diverse as religious extremism, nuclear programs and Jewish settlements in the West Bank also attract researchers, policymakers and business people seeking objective, credible information on different aspects of life in the MENA region

•Youtube (one outlet of Fanack’s radio/television broadcasts) is one of the largest social media outlets for both professional and amateur created content ranging form entertainment, advertisement on to political activism. As is the case with Twitter the UAE’s user base is twice as active as other regions and contributes to heavily consumed media on this site and therefore further funding of channels that create heavy traffic.

Data Source 1:

•UNESCO

•https://en.unesco.org/countries/united-arab-emirates 

•Country of Origin: France

•Language: English (Several Translations including Arabic)

•News & Database: Compiles an extensive quantity of national criteria regarding countries around the globe

•Accessible through the link provided above. (Open/Public)

•Statistical Media is updated Annually through official reports and surveys.

•In collaboration with the other four sources I plan on referring to this information as I consume new information and use it to help interpret some causality behind certain events and what cultural/educational/geographical etc. variables may be at play.

•As one of our international sanctioned sources, the data rich material is a reliable source to give a clear picture of the United Arab Emirates including Arabic compatible translations.

Data Source 2:

•Global Research: Centre for Research on Globalization

•http://www.globalresearch.ca/search?q=United+Arab+Emirates&x=0&y=0

•https://www.globalresearch.ca/about-2 

•Country of Origin: Canada

•Language: English (Several Translations including Arabic)

•News/Publication/Think Tank & Database: This news and data source organization stationed out of Montreal Quebec seeks to research, catalogue and analyze the social, political and economic events of the globe. Devotion of specific characteristics of these landscapes are broken down by category  Compiles an extensive quantity of national criteria regarding countries around the globe including by region and economy.

•Accessible through the link provided above. (Open/Public)

•International Publications are sourced through this website and their release is live. Statistical Media is updated annually through official reports and surveys.

•Utilizing Global Research Publishers, will help in acquiring intellectually well founded data that will contribute to the previously aforementioned sites and help to discern sufficiently sound information.

•It is a source for well structured data analysis and contextually rich information from the regions on which they are reporting. A wide variety of publications all seek further distribution through competitive data analysis and presentation. In 2007, GR launched Spanish (Español), Portuguese (Português), and German (Deutsch) language pages, which contain translations of Global Research articles. The following year Arabic العربية, Italian, (Italiano) and Serbian (srpski) language pages were launched. A wide variety of  educational and research institutions having established. It is also utilized as a source for specialized information by journalists, politicians, financial analysts and private organizations.

Visual/Audio Source 1:

•Aljazeera

•http://www.aljazeera.com/Search/?q=United%20Arab%20Emirates 

•Country of Origin: The United Arab Emirates (one of 70 international offices)

•Language: Arabic & English (Several Alternative Translations)

•Format/Type of source it is and what type of information can be found through this source

•Accessible through the link provided above. (Open/Public)

•Media is updated on a Live/Hourly/Daily timeline with a variety of media formats such as articles, videos (including VR), etc.

•This will be my main daily news consumption resource because of its high quality free live video broadcasts that are constantly streaming with no commercial interruption with little interpretation of the material being covered.

•I chose this media source due to many other sites listing it as one of the worlds top media coverage sites and it’s unique perspective of looking from the Middle East toward the outside world and giving in depth media reporting coverage on breaking news in multiple languages beyond Arabic and English.

Visual/Audio Source 2:

•21^st Century Wire

•http://21stcenturywire.com/category/middle-east/ 

•Country of Origin: USA

•Language: English

•News/Data/Articles/Podcasts

•Accessible through the link provided above. (Open/Public)

•Media is updated on a Live/Hourly/Weekly timeline with a variety of media formats such as articles, videos, including the regionally centered podcasts that are comprised of 2 hours of media content including interviews from local areas being covered.

•This media source covers both political and entertainment current events. The podcast component based on regional news such as the Middle East and events that influence the region as a collective. While the articles provided are based within the region but specifically center around nations such as the United Arab Emirates.

•I chose this media source due to it’s status of being of the top 25,000 most visited sites within existence from a large range of different viewers from around the globe and its alternative language translated media content.