The world of newspapers is fascinating. From the beginnings of the World Wide Web the newspaper was said to be facing certain death, yet the much predicted demise has not come about. Perhaps the ritualistic security of the daily read will need to work through a generation before the e‐paper truly arrives.
The main attribute of the Newspaper Society Web site in reference terms is that it keeps a large listing of local, regional and national titles. All of the titles listed have links to their own Web sites making this a very useful resource. National newspapers are contained in their own separate section. The remaining listing is arranged alphabetically by title. It is also possible to list titles by the 12 regional areas which in turn can be sub‐divided to gain more precise geographical coverage. Therefore it is possible to locate a town, city or district and to display the newspapers covering that area.
Further filter procedures allow for weekly free, weekly paid, daily and Sunday papers to be listed. In all instances the displayed lists contain just the title and where needed for clarity an indication of location. This title is the hyperlink to the actual Web site of that newspaper. Newspaper groups and services are also listed with accompanying links.
One technical note that might serve as a caveat when linking from this site is that the target site, that is the site to which the link is made, will open up in a new browser window. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach except that to return to the Newspaper Society site rather than use the browser’s back button it is necessary to close that browser window. This makes for a slightly inelegant design. A better solution would be for the target sites to be opened within the main frame window.
As well as providing the ability to find newspaper titles the Newspaper Society also gives a huge range of statistical information about the industry itself, such as circulation figures and other general trends. For example the top UK regional free weekly ranked by distribution is the Manchester Metro News followed by the Nottingham and Long Eaton Topper. Also provided at this Web site are a glossary of newspaper industry terms and some useful reports on the state of the industry.
While there are other resources available which list newspapers this site is well designed and simple to use, it has the weight of the newspaper industry’s profession behind it and gives up‐to‐date and comprehensive information.
