Search FAQ

Google News search pulls articles and journalists directly from the Google News index, meaning it is a true 'live' search. It's great for searching for journalists who are covering breaking news.

Article search pulls from our database of daily-updating articles, so is an instant search.

Google news search is a semantic search, while Article search is a keyword search. Doing the same search on both searches will yield slightly different results, but you may also see some of the same articles.

You can learn more about effective searching with Google News search here, and effective searching with Article search here.

This happens when a journalist has written multiple articles on the topic you're searching for. If you make several similar searches, you might also notice the same articles coming up again.

Repeatedly encountering the same journalist can actually be beneficial because it suggests they'll have a strong interest in your story, and therefore could benefit from a personalised email.

Concerned about duplicates in your media list? No need. Our system ensures a journalist appears only once in your list, no matter how many times you select them.

We use the Google News location filter, which isn't a true filter - articles deemed relevant enough but outside your selected location will still appear.

For example, if you search for a topic that has recently received significant coverage in UK news but not in the US, you will mostly see UK articles, even if you apply a US location filter.

To better surface articles from a specific location, you can try including the location in your search terms. Alternatively, you can search for a specific news story that's similar to your campaign and was covered in the location you want to target.

This message appears when the tool cannot determine an article's author, either because no journalist information is available, or because the tool failed to extract the author (we are actively working on fixes for situations where this happens).

Encounter a "No Journos Found" message when there is a journalist? Flag it to us and ask for a manual update.

We will update the search results with the correct author and make sure the associated journalist's profile is complete.

We aim for a prompt response to manual review requests, but you can immediately search for a journalist's contact details in our database using the "Journos" menu option.

Some articles list only a publication's name instead of the journalist's, so this is the information we retrieve.

However, if you come across an example where there is a journalist's name to be found, please report it for a manual update. We will update the result with the correct journalist and make sure the journalist's profile is complete.

A purple star indicated this is the first time JournoFinder has come across this journalist and the tool automatically created a new profile for them.

Our team reviews and completes any new profiles within 24 hours.

Need the contact details sooner? Request a manual update directly from the search results or via the journalist's profile.

You can still add these journalists to your media list, and any changes we make to the profile will be reflected in your media list as soon as we make them (you'll need to refresh the page to see them).

When an articles has more than one journalist assigned, this usually means more there is more than one author.

When you see an article with a large (seemingly impossible) amount of authors, check if the article is a 'live stream'. Live coverage articles tend to have a lot of contributors.

At the moment you can't chose to add just one journalist from the search result to your media list. If you want to do this, you can click on the journo and navigate to their profile. Here you can add them to any media list you want.

Note: if you come across an article where we have assigned multiple journalists by mistake, please flag this to us.

It is not always possible to find an email for every journalist. However, if you come across a profile without an email you can always request a manual update and we will do our best to find an email.

If you feel like your searches are not returning relevant results - it is likely you are making the wrong type of searches.

You can lean more about effective searching in general here, effective searching with Article search here, and effective searching with Google News search here.

Note: it might be different to the best ways to search on other media databases.

If you are searching for a journalist or an outlet and can't find it - first try different spellings of the name.

If you still can't find them, reach out to us via live chat with the name of the journalist or outlet you are trying to find and we will assist. If we do not have a profile for them, we will create one.

If you notice we have outdated information for any journalist, you can request a manual update of that journalist and we will update the profile.