The Partner Finder starts from curated lists of about 27,000 media outlets in the 193 UN member states. The list then keeps itself up to date: outlet websites are checked every month, and new outlets are added from the sources below every quarter.
Sources
| Source | What it adds | Checked again |
|---|---|---|
| Wikidata | Media outlets with website, social media accounts, owner and language | every quarter |
| Radio Browser | Radio stations with format, language and listener popularity | every quarter |
| iptv-org | TV channels with country, category and website | every quarter |
| Wikipedia lists | "List of radio stations / television stations / newspapers in …" per country, strong for small and local outlets | every quarter |
| Broadcasting unions | Members of EBU, ABU, AUB, ASBU, CBU and OTI | every quarter |
| Fact-checker lists | IFCN signatories and other fact-checkers (Wikipedia list), EFCSN members | every quarter |
| SDG Media Compact | Media that committed to covering the Sustainable Development Goals | every quarter |
| GFMD | Media development and journalism support organisations | every quarter |
| PINA | Pacific Islands News Association members | every quarter |
| WFSJ | Science journalist associations | every quarter |
| OCCRP | Investigative member centres | every quarter |
| ANCIR | African investigative newsrooms | every quarter |
| Community radio lists | AMARC Europe, NFCB (US), and Wikipedia lists for Canada, the US, Hungary, the UK, Ireland, the Philippines, Germany/Austria/Switzerland, Latin America and Indonesia | every quarter |
| RSF World Press Freedom Index | Press freedom category per country, used for the state media rule | every quarter |
| Wikipedia: state media by country | Marks state-controlled outlets | every quarter |
| Every outlet's website | Whether the outlet still exists | every month |
| ABYZ News Links | Newspapers, online outlets, broadcasters and news agencies by country | from the base lists |
| Covering Climate Now | Newsrooms committed to climate coverage | from the base lists |
| GIJN, LatamChequea, Earth Journalism Network | Investigative newsrooms, Latin American fact-checkers, environmental journalism | from the base lists |
| Report for the World, GCRN (Ghana), India's community radio list, CBAA (Australia) | Local newsrooms and community radio stations | from the base lists |
| Own research | About 10 leading outlets per country, using the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, Press Gazette's news website ranking and RSF country profiles | one-off research |
Rules the list follows
- New outlets: members of partner networks are always added. Outlets from large directories only fill up to 50 per country and channel, most prominent first; radio stations without a news, talk or community format need a second source. New outlets are tagged New for 4 months.
- Website check: an outlet whose website does not answer is tagged Website not reachable. It is hidden after 3 clear failures in a row (domain gone, page removed, domain for sale) or 6 in a row for timeouts and server errors, and it comes back as soon as the website answers again.
- State media: state-controlled media are not listed when their country is in the lowest category of the RSF World Press Freedom Index ("very serious situation", newest year), or when they are run by de-facto authorities, a military regime or a party. Other state media are listed and marked State-controlled.
- Verified: listed by at least two independent sources. Entries from one source only are marked unverified: please confirm that the outlet exists and is active before contacting it.
- Public data only: names, websites, social media accounts and publicly listed email addresses. No personal contacts.
- Ranks, scores and topics are an orientation derived automatically, not measured reach.