Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Shortcuts for narrowing searches on Google News

Google News, a search engine for media sources, has become a key tool for journalists, but sometimes has too much information to give — forcing reporters to sift through thousands of results for the perfect source. Special syntax can narrow those searches and save valuable time, reports WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C.

When searching on Google News, simply add location: followed by a postal code, city or state to narrow results to that area. For example, to search for news on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in South Carolina, type huckabee location:SC (no space between location, the colon and SC) into Google News. If searching for a first and last name, necessary for more common names, use quote marks, as in "john edwards" location:SC into the browser.

Adding in title: to a search narrows results to those with selected terms or names in the headline. For example, to search for news on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary, type intitle:romney primary location:michigan. (Read more)

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