Nexis® 101: Five Essential Sources for Media Professionals

Content is King! It’s a phrase we’ve heard over and over as the demand for high-quality, clickable content - produced at lightning speed, 24/7 - continues to rise. But the pressure to produce great content, quickly, must be balanced with the ethos of journalism: being factual. And with the glut of information available in our, well, Google-everything world, it can be difficult to quickly identify, not to mention qualify, the best and most factual sources.

Actually, that’s where Nexis can help. Here, we explore five essential sources on Nexis. Read on, or view our webinar training here.

Transcripts

What’s better than an exact quote? An exact quote and all the context surrounding it! That’s just the kind of deep research Nexis provides through our TV and radio transcripts. The system allows journalists to home in on an expert resource or original material that initially appeared over the airwaves, even if it is decades old. Search by a specific radio or TV program, key phrase, interview topic or interviewee; the intuitive “word wheel” feature allows you to quickly populate your query from among popular search terms.

Let’s say you want to look for any articles or transcripts in which Michael Jackson was interviewed. Use the transcript option to narrow down to segments in which he was featured. Want to dive even deeper? You can whittle down results even further by specifying a program or network. Yes, your search really can be as specific as Michael Jackson interviews that appeared on ABC!

Local Search

If you’re curious as to whether your hometown media outlet has ever covered, say, David Beckham, we have good news. Nexis can get that granular, too, with our local media search. You can aggregate results by geographic region or specific publication, for instance, stories about the football superstar that appeared in Spain’s La Verdad. While there are some limitations for very small local newspapers, by and large, you’ll find what you’re looking for if you want to stay local.

Fair Disclosure Wire

The fair disclosure wire is a great resource for media professionals—and not just for reporting quarterly profit, loss and market share for some of the world’s biggest companies! There are two ways to use this source: (1) to access earnings calls and (2) to access investor conferences. While many journalists themselves participate in earnings calls to learn more about a company’s profits and losses, the investor conferences provide a broader view that lends helpful context to industry issues.

For example, a search for the world’s largest home improvement store chain reveals several executives who spoke at a Raymond James Institutional Investors Conference. The transcript of the call highlights some pretty interesting details about the company’s market dominance and future plans—though you’ll have to run a Fair Disclosure Wire search to find out exactly what they discussed!

Biographies

One of the most powerful tools in the Nexis arsenal, the Biographies search allows users to seek - and find - professional contacts and references. Whether you’re looking for a specific individual by name or trying to identify the right contact at a specific organization, Nexis can support your research with useful contact data.

It’s simple: navigate to the Biographies search, drop in a name and voilà! In addition to returning the issues in which that source is considered an expert, Nexis can provide their direct professional contact information. Alternatively, you can enter a company name into the search, and Nexis will return employees with contact information at that organization.

In addition to professional contacts and resources, you can specify the type of content - attorneys and judges, business leaders, expert witnesses, government officials and scientists, among others - you’d like to search within. However, the most popular search option, Contact References, should offer up a great starting point for general queries and research.

The Complete Marquis Who’s Who^®

Looking for an expert in infectious diseases? Fundraising strategies? Architecture and design? Instead of going down the Google rabbit hole, let Nexis do the heavy living by sifting through the tens of thousands of self-identified and independently verified experts in their field. Depending on what you’re looking for, you can search by keyword, company name or for a specific individual. In addition, the Marquis Who’s Who provides tons of biographical information - from contact and career information to honours and awards - all in one place.

What or who will you research next? With Nexis^®, your search just got a bit easier. Here’s to being first and factual in our always-on, Content is King world!