I need help with my college work

[verdugo136]

I need to find a press release from a local or national organisation and then find newspaper coverage of that press release. I have spend over 3 hours looking and have come up with nothing and my teacher has been no help at all. So if anyone knows any please help.

 

[Frezzato]

I need to find a press release from a local or national organisation and then find newspaper coverage of that press release. I have spend over 3 hours looking and have come up with nothing and my teacher has been no help at all. So if anyone knows any please help.

Your mistake was being logical

There doesn't seem to be any reliable sites to go to for press release searches, and Google is like being dropped in the ocean blindfolded.

The easiest thing to do would be to think of a popular product being made or announced by a major corporation. Case in point, Sony. Sony, like many companies, has a dedicated section on their website dedicated to news, or press releases [http://blog.sony.com/press/category/tv-home-entertainment/]. I browsed through their releases and saw their announcement for a curved LED television [http://blog.sony.com/press/sony-introduces-worlds-first-curved-screen-led-television/].

I then went to Google and searched for 'Sony Curved LED screen news' and immediately came across a link for USA Today [http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/10/15/new-curved-sony-led-hdtv/2982051/]. It's interesting to note that a month had passed between the press release and the actual article.

Now, if your professor requires a citation from a print source, you're out of luck. The disconnect between online media and print is evidenced by the shutdown of major newspapers across the country. Unless that was the point of the assignment, you're in for a hard time.

 

[Frezzato]

If corporate releases won't cut it, then another easy find is government.

Here's a White House press release [http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/08/statement-president-departure-heather-zichal] regarding the departure of Heather Zichal, climate and energy adviser to President Obama...aaaand here's the coverage by the Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/11/08/white-house-names-new-climate-and-energy-chief-to-replace-heather-zichal/].

 

[Jamieson 90]

If you need something printed then universities and libraries usually have collections, particularly the larger and more national ones in the case of libraries. You could also try academic organizations that have electric versions of newspapers, although at the moment I forget their names since it's been awhile since I was at University and used them.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Your university should give you access to various academic databases through its library. The one you want is called Lexis Nexis. Get on there and check it out, it'll have everything you need and more.

Edit: Just realized you said college. Even community colleges usually come with Lexis Nexis access, so you should be fine. It's a wonderful database of newspaper and magazine articles, goes back at least 30 or 40 years.