Navigating the Airwaves with BBC Monitoring Library
Jinfo Blog

By Sophie Alexander

Abstract

Sophie Alexander highlights some of the key features of the BBC Monitoring Library, an English-language online news service that monitors over 3,000 sources from 150 countries on news of political and economic significance.

Item

BBC Monitoring Library shows how countries report on international business, political and economic affairs. It offers coverage of 150 countries and translates "as reported" news from 100 languages into English without analysis or editorial comment to ensure impartiality and authority.  Editorial staff based both in the UK and overseas offices provide the translations enabling them to capture the tone and nuance of the original language making it a useful tool for those who don't speak any foreign languages or employ those with foreign language skills.

Thousands of Sources from Across the World

The information is sourced from over 3,000 sources, including the full text of newspapers articles, television, websites and radio broadcasts and is usually available within a couple of days from the date of its original publication. Its strength lies in its ability to source a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional content from around the world covering regional interest news that isn't readily available elsewhere.

The database covers an impressive range of geographic regions and languages and caters for both end-users and professional researchers alike. It's generally used by governments, analysts, businesses with international interests and journalists, helping them to improve their decision-making.

An Extensive Archive

With an extensive archive dating back to 2006, this online news service covers news of political and economic significance that impact international relations, crime, human rights, terrorism, energy, environment and health. Coverage is of regional interest news that isn't readily available anywhere else.

Read the full review of BBC Monitoring Library for in-depth information on the sources, technology and value that make this a useful tool for anyone interested in world events and to find out how it can be used for background research or keeping up with developments globally. 

This Blog Item is part of the FreePint Topic Series: News, and Beyond.

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