WebScout
Keeping up with the News: On-Line Newspapers
By Marcia Koth de Paredes

Both the Washington Post and the New York Times recently reported that they now have more online readers than readers for their print versions. It, therefore, seemed a good idea when Ruth Morales suggested that I do a Web Scout article about on-line newspapers because they provide an easy way to complement other ways we keep up with the news.

Any of the first three portals suggested below allow you to find your hometown and other favorite newspapers to set up a short list of favorites. The rest provide similar information but also have very useful information of other sorts to background the news or look for news on specialized topics. Spend some time to bookmark a few that you want to access regularly with ease. You may also want to sign up for newsletters that some of the papers provide.

Reference Desk.Com
http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html

You can click for newspapers by state in the United States. I clicked on my state (Minnesota), for example, and found 123 newspapers on the list with at least information about the papers, although many do not have free online versions. The big city papers did have free online versions. You can also click for newspapers by world region and find lists by country. I clicked on Canada (69 media were reported,) United Kingdom (49) and Peru (six including Caretas, El Comercio, El Peruano, Expreso, Gestión, La República).
You could also go to http://www.refdesk.com/top10pap.html for links to the Top 10 Newspapers in the U.S. This gives you easy access to USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Daily News, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsday and Houston Chronicle. You can also find searchable newspaper archives in case you want to read more on a specific topic. Newspapers often charge small fees for archive downloads.

Yahoo! News Directory
http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Newspapers/

This directory also gives you lists by state in the U.S. and world regions (9278 in total). You can request lists in order of popularity and find the major U.S. newspapers at the top. The Directory also has additional useful categories such as Alternative Newsweeklies, College and University, Columnist Rosters, K-12, Tabloids Publishers and Organizations and other web directories. This is a very useful portal to access media. Yahoo also provides a news service (http://news.yahoo.com) of the top breaking stories plus news by topic: business, world, entertainment, sports, technology, politics, science, health, op/ed, weather. This service also has links to major news services such as Reuters.

Newslink to Canadian Newspapers
http://newslink.org/nonusn.html

This provides links to papers by Canadian region. An advantage is that you can also access by type of paper: daily, non-daily, business, alternative, specialty.

University of Texas Austin LANIC/PERU
http://www1.lanic.utexas.edu/la/peru/

This resource provides access to many links about Peru including newspapers (20) and other net and information services such as the Asociacion Cabinas Peru, Directorio Rural del Peru and that Red Cientifica Peruana which provides a list of 41 Peruvian media (http://www.yachay.com, click on medios de comunicacion.) The LANIC site presents information about numerous topics including radio, television, education and sports.

InfoUSA U.S. Department of State International Information Programs
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/

Here you find information about the United States economy, government and politics, laws and treaties, science and technology, education, arts and culture, media in the U.S. including links to newspapers, broadcast media, magazines and journals and e-journals and publications. There are special sections such as one with links to Spanish language newspapers, radio and TV stations in the U.S.

Here is my short list - just to show example selected via the portals above.

Minneapolis Star and Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/

Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com

Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com

El Comercio
http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/

La República
http://www.larepublica.com.pe/

La Industria
http://www.laindustria.com/industria/index.html

MIT The Tech
http://www-tech.mit.edu

U of Minnesota Daily
http://www.mndaily.com

La Nación
http://www.lanacion.com.ar