The U.S. is a very isolated nation geographically and idealogically. This fact becomes painfully obvious during times of conflict, but is a constant regardless.
Because of this fact, contacting media sources abroad is essential.
My selection is based on certain political realities.
Governments don't give a shit what you think unless they're inconvenienced. -- By targeting the people of NATO and UN nations, the possibility of affecting some kind of action is at least present.
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NATO
(18 members)
http://www.nato.int/
http://www.nato.int/docu/handbook/2001/hb070101.htm
http://www.nato.int/cv/permrep/permrep.htm
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
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UN Security Council Nations
(15 members)
http://www.un.org/Docs/scinfo.htm#MEMBERS
*France
Germany
Guinea
Mexico
Pakistan
*Russian Federation
Spain
Syrian Arab Republic
*United Kingdom
*United States
Angola
Bulgaria
Cameroon
*China
Chile
* Permanent council members.
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Other UN Nations
(191 UN members in all)
Members
http://www.un.org/Overview/unmember.html
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You might also want to contact media sources from Arab League nations:
http://www.arabji.com/ArabGovt/ArabLeague.htm
Members of the Arab League
Algeria
Bahrain
Comoros
Djibouti
Egypt
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Mauritania
Morocco
Oman
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Sudan
*Syria
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
* UN Security Council Member (2003)
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TYPES OF MEDIA SOURCES:
Major Newspapers
News Magazines
News Broadcasts
(Radio)
Narrowing your focus by limiting your contacts to one or two types of media might make the task a little less daunting.
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Here's Yahoo's category path for the international stuff.
News & Media > By Region > Countries
http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/By_Region/Countries/
I've provided links to various member nations below, but the ultimate choice is yours.
Out of a selection of 20 items, less than half probably have the amount of readers necessary to make your efforts worth while. Determining which media sources are well established and which are fly-by-night operations isn't always an easy thing to do.
If there's a description, go for the ones that offer daily national and international news. Local papers aren't going to have that wide an audience.
Another indication of the type of publication you're looking at can be found on the contact page itself.
If contacts include various offices, editors, staff members, &/or letters to the editor categories, you're probably dealing with something more than a Mom & Pop deal. If, on the other hand, you're only given an email address for subscriptions or ads, you're probably dealing with a small newsletter. -- If an email address doesn't specify what kind of contact it is, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, grab it.
(If you're having trouble locating the contact link, try the "About Us" page. - Some sites like playing Hide-&-Seek.)
You might just want to focus on sources geared to English speakers.
Then again, maybe you're the adventurous type. Go ahead and look for that contact link. So a slight language barrier makes this process a challenging one, so what! Go for it! -- Just keep in mind that the email response may not be in English.
(I tend to stick to the English publications. -- I personally don't find the labor intensive language challenges fulfilling enough to pursue.)
http://directory.google.com/Top/News/Regional/
http://directory.google.com/Top/News/Newspapers/Regional/
Other Sites:
http://www.aol.com/webcenters/international/home.adp
http://directory.google.com/Top/News/Newspapers/International/
http://directory.google.com/Top/News/
CUTTING TO THE CHASE
UN Security Council Nations
| *France | *Germany | Guinea |
| Mexico | Pakistan | Russian Federation |
| *Spain | Syrian Arab Republic | *United Kingdom |
| *United States | Angola | Bulgaria |
| Cameroon | China | Chile |
NATO Members
| Belgium | Canada | Czech Republic |
| Denmark | *France | *Germany |
| Greece | Hungary | Iceland |
| Italy | Netherlands | Norway |
| Poland | Portugal | *Spain |
| Turkey | *United Kingdom | *United States |
* These countries are listed on both charts.
If the complete media listing for a country had more than 20 items, I narrowed the selection to newspapers.
If the newspaper selection was smaller than the site listings on a country's page (or equal to it), I stuck to the country's page.
example:
CANADA
Complete List -> 1007 items
Newspapers -> 4 items
Canada's Site Listings -> 4 items
But, of course, feel free to adopt any approach that suits your purposes.
(Denmark, Norway, & Turkey were toss-ups. Cameroon didn't have a Yahoo! listing. U.S. divvies it up between the states.)