Welcome to Greta's Blog

Greta Hale is a second year master’s student studying media theory and research at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She worked for two years as a city reporter, court reporter and education reporter at a small daily newspaper in northeast Ohio called the Star Beacon.
Her research interests include stress on war reporters and media concentration in newspapers and television stations.
Hale edits and writes for local magazine, The Southern Health Magazine. Her hobbies include rollerblading, kickboxing, reading, skiing, enjoying the beautiful natural landscape of Southern Illinois and spending time with family and friends.

Check your e-mail

Go here to check your SIUC Webmail account.

News Web Sites

Here are some of your favorites. Check out CNN, USA Today, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Southern Illinoisan, The Daily Egyptian and Newsweek.

Thinking of Moving?

Be sure to consider the cost of living in different areas with this helpful calculator.

Helpful Links for Journalists

Here are hundreds of links to make the Internet easier to use. Here is a list of who owns what media companies. Here's a link to general suggestions to become a better reporter.

Find a Newspaper

Here are some sites to locate newspapers in different cities. Try NewsLink, American Journaliam Review or News Directory. For newspapers in the United States, go to the U.S. Newspaper list.

Greta's Stories

Here is the Star Beacon Web site. Greta wrote as a education reporter, court reporter and city reporter there for two years. Greta is the editor and a writer for the Southern Health Magazine. Unfortunately, the newest issues are not yet available on-line. Here is one of the very first articles Greta write when she was an intern at The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, Ohio in summer 2001.
Here are some of Greta's favorite stories:
Here's one about neighbors feuding about rats.
This is a sad story about a family's pet that was killed by a Rottweiler.
This is a story about the corrupt leader of a nonprofit agency in Ashtabula County. This story shows even more problems with the same nonprofit agency, which occurred when guardianships were changed. This story of animal cruelty upset many readers and the Ashtabula city solicitor received 500 letters about it.
Talk about gross! A problem with the city's storm sewer system caused this family's basement to be filled with feces.

Greta's Resume

Click here to check out Greta's Resume

News Archives

Here is one way to find newspaper archives and an archive directory. Lexus Nexus also provides many newspaper articles.

Journalists Guide to the Internet

Chris Callahan from the University of Maryland created this resource.

Investigative Resources

Here are a few more Web sites to help you check out people's backgrounds. Use this site to find out if someone has a criminal record in Jackson county.
Use the United States Postal Service Web site to find a zip code. This Web site can tell you if someone if a registered sex offender in Jackson County.

Research at Morris Library

Use this to find a book. Use this to find journal articles.

Find a phone number

Here are some great telephone directories, provided by the University of Texas at Austin. Have an address but not a number? Use this reverse directory of telephone numbers and addresses. Here's a site that will tell you if a number is a cell phone or a land line.

Google Searches

Do an advanced Google search to search the Internet for the information you need. Quickly search for the news you need with an advanved Google news search. Find images you need with the advanced Google images search. Use this site to search the full text of books. Use this to search Blogs. The Google Scholar Web site can locate scholarly journal articles.

Freedom of Information Act information

This site will give you information about the FOI Act. Click here to make your own FOI requests. Use this Web site to create FOI requests for specific states.

Health News and Information

Use WebMD to find out tidbits of health news and wellness information. Google Health news also provides a comprehensive list of up-to-date health news. Need more resources. What about Prevention Magazine or even the American Cancer Society? The FDA has a helpful site, as does the Illinois Department of Public Health.