Millions of articles, blogs, and other pieces of content are posted to the web every day. Keeping on top of the news can be tricky for advocates who need to stay on top of current events in a number of spaces.
Advocates can get the best information about their causes by circulating between trusted news outlets, government resources, data aggregation platforms, and nonprofit websites.
Below is a list of recommended bookmarks for advocates.
Advocacy Journalism (Media Outlets)
Advocates may want to start with some of the major advocacy journalism websites.
Advocacy journalism is a specific type of reporting – it is intentionally and transparently biased toward a specific viewpoint or political leaning. This type of journalism remains factually grounded. It is different from media bias and propaganda as the viewpoint is made known to the audience.
Some outlets are wholly designed to present a particular political viewpoint and do so explicitly. Note that not all of these sites fall along the traditional liberal-conservative divide. Some outlets take on a perspective that is issue-driven and independent of political leanings such as anti-corruption.
Below are some good starting points for general advocacy news. Some of these outlets explicitly state their political view – conservative or liberal. While others have adopted ideologies associated with one end of the political spectrum.
We’ve also included some solid middle-of-the-road (moderate) options that may skew a little one way, but are generally reputable news sources. These organizations may not advocate for a particular viewpoint, but they are useful for advocates as they focus on politics.
The below organizations are listed as conservative, moderate, liberal, or nonpartisan in nature. The political leanings were identified by either the organization’s self-declaration or through the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart. Note that organizations that did not self-identify with a political leaning and weren’t found on the Ad Fontes chart were listed as nonpartisan.
Readers should note that while the Ad Fontes Media Bias chart is widely circulated, there are some criticisms of the tool. Nonetheless, the chart provides a good starting point for gauging the political leanings of news agencies.
Media outlets that operate as nonprofit organizations are also noted.
- Daily Wire (conservative)
- Reason (conservative)
- The Washington Free Beacon (conservative)
- Independent Journal Review (moderate/skews conservative)
- The Conversation (nonpartisan) (nonprofit)
- Reveal (nonpartisan) (nonprofit)
- Orb (nonpartisan) (nonprofit)
- ProPublica (nonpartisan) (nonprofit)
- Politico (moderate/skews liberal)
- The Progressive (liberal)
- Daily Kos (liberal)
- The Intercept (liberal)
Government Resources (Public Data and Archives)
Below is a list of official government databases (with an emphasis on U.S. government data sets).
- Congress.gov (U.S. legislation tracking)
- Data.gov (U.S. general data)
- E.U. Open Data Portal (European Union)
- OECD Open Government Data (OECD/World)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- U.S. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
- U.S. Catalog of Government Publications (CGP)
- U.S. Census Bureau
- U.S. Central Intelligence Agency – World Factbook
- U.S. Department of Agriculture – National Agricultural Library (NAL)
- U.S. Department of Commerce – Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
- U.S. Department of Defense Open Data
- U.S. Department of Education & Institute of Education Sciences – Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
- U.S. Department of Energy – Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP)
- U.S. Geological Survey – Publications Warehouse
- U.S. Government Accountability Office
- U.S. Government Publishing Office
- U.S. Homeland Security Digital Library
- U.S. National Archives – Access to Archival Databases (AAD)
- U.S. National Library of Medicine – National Institutes of Health – PubMed
- U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Satellite and Information Service
- United Nations Data
- United Nations Databases
- United Nations Treaty Collection
- USA.gov
- USASpending.gov
Third-Party Government Tracking Sites (Open Government Data Aggregation Platforms)
Tracking government and other official data can be difficult – even for governments. When official data sets are made publicly available, though, it allows the private sector to help sort and utilize the information.
Open government data aggregation platforms are websites created by businesses or nonprofit organizations that collect and display government information. These websites seek to make official data more accessible and easier to understand for the public.
Data aggregation websites include:
- Google Public Data – Aggregates official data sets (International)
- GovTrack.us – Legislative tracking (U.S.)
- National Security Archive (George Washington University) – U.S. military and intelligence archives
- Opensecrets.org – Tracking money in U.S. politics
- Popvox.com – Legislative and policy tracking (U.S. national and state)
- Real Clear Politics – Latest Polls (U.S. private research data)
- Sunlight Foundation – Nonpartisan open data aggregator (U.S. and international)
- USAFacts.org – Current and historical U.S. demographic, economic, and other civic data.
News for Nonprofit Organizations (Administration and Best Practices)
Nonprofit news is a confusing term sometimes as it can essentially mean two things – 1) news that is delivered by nonprofit organizations (more common meaning), and 2) news that is meant for nonprofit organizations.
Above we listed a few nonprofit news outlets. Below are news sources for nonprofits that can help in establishing and managing a nonprofit organization.
- BoardSource (resources for nonprofit boards)
- The Chronicle of Philanthropy
- Entrepreneur – Nonprofits category
- Institute for Nonprofit News
- National Council of Nonprofits
- The NonProfit Times
- Nonprofit Quarterly
- Philanthropy News Digest
- Top Nonprofits
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