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Wednesday, December 01, 1999
A State Government Reporter's Guide To The Web
Compiled by the Stateline.org staff
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Getting information from the World Wide Web is like drinking from a fire hose. If you don't handle it carefully, the Web can knock you over with a stream of data that's so wide and so deep and comes at you so fast that no one on deadline can handle it.
That's why we decided to publish this resource guide. We wanted to turn the Web into a drinking fountain as we do every day with Stateline.org. Our purpose is to save you time by organizing information resources, particularly for reporters and others needing accurate information on meaty topics like education, healthcare and welfare reform.
This is a dynamic document that we will update on a regular basis. Let us know how we can expand it to include your favorite sites and other ways to make it useful.
We promise to steer clear of hype in this directory despite the fact that we have found sites that are truly breathtaking in the depth of the information they contain. Many of them, like the Bureau of the Census site and the state sites, are the new public faces of government. And it's a friendlier face than we've seen before.
We have included here some of the many government sites that are the most authoritative and complete in their data, the ones that make it easy and safe for reporters to get what they need. Accuracy seems to have been a motivating force for many of them, though we cannot vouch for every data byte.
We've also included some of the sites nonprofit groups have created. And with them comes a word of caution: Beware of the political ideology behind the data. We have attempted to identify that ideology where we could. Because a site has been produced by a left- or right-leaning group doesn't mean that someone has cooked the books on its data, but we do think it's worthwhile to let you know that while the data is good, the interpretation of it may be coming from one side or the other of the political spectrum. As with any information, it's wise to remember that old adage: Consider the source.
This guide owes a debt to two people. The first is Christopher Callahan, a former Associated Press reporter now the associate dean at the University of Maryland's College of Journalism. His book, A Journalists' Guide to the Internet: The Net as a Reporting Tool, is both a wonderful how-to and directory of Web sites for reporters. It was our original inspiration. The second is Maureen Cosgrove, a University of Missouri graduate student in journalism (and now a healthcare staff writer at Stateline.org), who did an excellent job of reporting, writing and organizing this resource guide. Jennifer Hoyt of the University of Richmond was her able assistant.
Ed Fouhy
Editor, Stateline.org
October, 1999
A State Government Reporter's Guide To The WebGeneral ResourcesWelfare Reform ResourcesUtility Deregulation ResourcesHealthcare ResourcesEducation Resources Tax and Budget ResourcesGovernors'/Legislative/State Sites Staff Writer Bios
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 | Stateline.org has put together a list of state public policy resources organized by issue. Here, you will find useful links to essential information from government, academia, and think tanks. If you have a link to add, please email us.
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