Newsgathering Tools
Tools for finding sources, public records, and information.
56 tools evaluated. Ratings backed by published methodology.
Aleph (OCCRP)
Search 1 billion+ records across 180+ countries — corporate registries, leaked databases, sanctions lists, court records. The investigative journalist's follow-the-money search engine.
Arc Search
AI-powered mobile browser from The Browser Company. 'Browse for Me' reads multiple pages and synthesizes answers. Ad-free. Now owned by Atlassian.
Bellingcat Auto Archiver
Automates web and social media archiving for evidence preservation. Captures posts, videos, and images in a verifiable format.
BillTrack50
Legislative bill tracking across all 50 US states, DC, and Congress — with AI summaries and executive order mapping.
ChangeDetection.io
Open-source website change monitoring with 85+ notification channels. Self-host for free via Docker or use the hosted service. Tracks text changes, visual diffs, JSON APIs, and pages behind logins.
ClinicalTrials.gov
NIH clinical trial registry. 530,000+ studies from 230 countries. Free. The primary public record of what drugs and treatments are actually being tested — and what the results show.
Corporate Prosecution Registry
Searchable database of every federal corporate criminal prosecution in the United States since 1990 — built by UVA Law, free, and continuously updated.
Dataminr
AI-powered real-time alert platform that processes 1M+ public data sources to detect breaking news before it hits the wire.
Expertise Finder
Search engine for university experts. Find faculty sources by topic across North American institutions for interviews and commentary.
Factiva
Dow Jones's premium news and business research database — 32,000+ licensed sources across 200 countries and 28 languages, with deep archives and company intelligence.
FOIA.gov
The federal government's centralized portal for submitting Freedom of Information Act requests to any federal agency.
Global Fishing Watch
Open-data platform tracking global fishing activity and vessel movements via satellite AIS and radar — free, open source, purpose-built for transparency and ocean accountability.
Global Forest Watch
Free satellite-based deforestation monitoring — real-time alerts, 65+ datasets, and 20+ years of tree cover change data for environmental investigations worldwide.
Google Alerts
Free email alerts when Google indexes new results matching your search terms. The simplest web monitoring tool — and one of the least reliable.
Google Earth Pro
Free desktop satellite imagery with historical views back to the 1940s, 3D terrain, GIS import, and measurement tools. Version 7.3.7.
Google Maps
Street View in 80+ countries. 280 billion panoramic images. Route planning, location verification, satellite imagery. The everyday mapping tool for field reporting.
Google Pinpoint
AI document analysis for investigative journalism.
Google Trends
Real-time search interest data for story research, trend identification, and audience behavior analysis.
GuideStar (Candid)
Nonprofit data on 1.9 million organizations — 990 filings, financials, board members, and mission statements. Now part of Candid.
Hunter.io
Find professional email addresses associated with any domain. Verify deliverability before sending. Used by journalists for source outreach.
ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database
Search 810,000+ offshore entities from five major leak investigations — Panama Papers, Pandora Papers, Paradise Papers, Bahamas Leaks, and Offshore Leaks.
iFOIA
File, track, and appeal FOIA requests electronically — free, from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Instant Data Scraper
Browser extension that uses AI to detect data patterns on web pages and export to CSV or Excel. No code, no account, no server.
IntelTechniques
Michael Bazzell's OSINT tools, training, and methodology — the definitive resource for digital investigations, online search techniques, and personal privacy protection.
Junkipedia
Cross-platform social media monitoring for journalists and researchers. Tracks 14 platforms including fringe networks that most tools ignore.
Kagi
Paid, ad-free search engine funded entirely by users. No ads, no tracking, no surveillance economics. Custom result ranking, domain lenses, and access to multiple AI assistants in one subscription.
Klaxon
Website change monitoring built for newsrooms. Get alerts when government pages, court dockets, or corporate sites change.
LexisNexis Nexis
The largest licensed news and public records database — 39,000+ sources, 45 years of archives, 138 billion documents. The backbone of professional investigative research.
MarineTraffic
Real-time global ship tracking via AIS — 13,000+ terrestrial receivers and satellite coverage, the standard tool for maritime investigations and sanctions evasion reporting.
Media Cloud
Open-source media analysis platform. Search and analyze news coverage across 60,000+ sources and 1 billion+ stories worldwide.
MuckRock
File, track, and share public records requests — with a nonprofit that actually files them for you.
NorthData
European company intelligence engine — 87 million entities across 23 countries with financial indicators, network visualizations, and ownership chains extracted from official registries.
OpenCorporates
World's largest open database of company information. 230+ million entities from 140+ jurisdictions. Free for journalists.
OpenSanctions
Open-source sanctions, PEP, and criminal-watchlist database — 2.1 million entities aggregated from 328 official sources, free for journalists and non-commercial use.
OpenSecrets
Campaign finance, lobbying, and dark money database for US politics.
OpenStates
Open legislative data from all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico — bills, votes, and legislators searchable in one place.
Otter.ai
AI-powered meeting transcription and note-taking — fast and accurate, but your audio trains their models.
ParseHub
Visual web scraper. Point-and-click data extraction from JavaScript-heavy websites. No coding required. Desktop app builds the scraper; cloud servers run it.
PimEyes
Facial recognition reverse-image search engine — finds photos of a face across the open web. Powerful for identification work, ethically fraught, used by journalists and stalkers alike.
ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
Search 1.9 million US nonprofits. Every Form 990 filing, executive salary, audit flag, and financial trend — free, no account required.
PubMed
NIH/NLM biomedical literature database. 40M+ citations from MEDLINE and life science journals. Free. The definitive starting point for health and science journalism research.
Raindrop.io
Bookmark and research manager. Save, organize, search, and archive web content across every device.
Readwise Reader
Read-later app with highlighting, RSS, annotations, and AI summaries. A power user's Pocket replacement built for people who read for a living.
RECAP / CourtListener
Free access to tens of millions of federal court documents. Browser extension archives PACER purchases and shares them publicly through CourtListener.
Research Rabbit
Visual academic research discovery — 'Spotify for papers.' Start with one paper, discover hundreds through citation mapping, author networks, and AI recommendations. Free, with Zotero integration.
SciLine
Free expert-matching service from AAAS. Connects journalists with scientists on deadline for science and health reporting.
SEC EDGAR
SEC's electronic filing system. Every public company filing since 1993 — 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks, proxy statements, insider trades. Free. The foundation of financial and business journalism.
Semantic Scholar
AI-powered academic search engine with 234 million papers. Free, fast, and built by the Allen Institute for AI. The best way to find and understand scientific literature for reporting.
Social Blade
Social media analytics platform. Track follower growth, engagement trends, and channel statistics across YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and TikTok.
Source of Sources
Free expert-finding email service for journalists, from the founder of HARO.
TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse)
Federal enforcement data obtained through FOIA — immigration courts, IRS audits, federal prosecutions, staffing. Built by and for journalists at Syracuse University.
USASpending.gov
The official source for federal spending data — contracts, grants, loans, and direct payments, searchable by agency, recipient, and location.
VesselFinder
Real-time ship tracking via terrestrial and satellite AIS — affordable alternative to MarineTraffic with global coverage, 90-day history on top tier, and no-account browsing.
Violation Tracker
700,000+ corporate penalties totaling over $1 trillion since 2000. The largest free corporate misconduct database in the world.
Watch Duty
Real-time wildfire tracking from 150+ trained volunteer monitors. Faster than official alerts. Critical for western US journalists covering fire.
Zotero
Citation and research manager. Collect, organize, annotate, and cite sources across any publication style.
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