As an independent publisher and NewsMaster, having access to authoritative news sources is an essential resource. Although more and more news publishing entities around the world are offering some or all of their content online, it's always a judgement call as to which ones are authoritative and reliable:

• How independent are they?


• How much of their news is original and based on solid research?


• How much is based on speculation and rumour, rather than on fact and reality?


• How much is just a rehash of other sources?

NewspaperIndex.com is a worldwide directory of newspapers which offer online editions. NewspaperIndex claims to:

"Collect and maintain links only to newspapers and publications containing local, free and independent news from each country in the world. You will not find links to online media sites that solely grab information, reports and content from other sources.

The database does not have newspapers that focus on gossip, rumour, local or sport news. We only include websites with free public access that have a local editorial staff of independent journalists and in most cases a print version as well.

Another important thing is that we only accept broadcast sites and online media that are daily updated."

This is a truly amazing resource. It appears that every country in the world is covered, from Afghanistan (5 entries) to Zimbabwe (9 entries), via Kyrgyzstan (9 entries) and Micronesia (1 entry).

The site has been developed by journalist Hans Henrik Lichtenberg, whose aim is to "direct people to news sources of high quality. We try to keep this as both a non-profit and a non-bankrupt project."

In the spirit of a true, independent NewsMaster, Mr Lichtenberg encourages users to "consider donating an amount to keep Newspaperindex.com free, fast and functional...all donors will be listed here with a web link - if you wish. Another thing you can do is to link to newspaperindex."

Hans Henrik - we would like support your truly commendable efforts by freely offering you two pieces of advice:

1. Ascertain whether the sources you cover offer RSS feeds and then indicate whether they do in your listings. You will then have a multitude of your peers - like-minded independent, ethically-motivated NewsMasters from around the world, visiting your site to collect up relevant sources for their own use.

2. And/or having identified those sources that have RSS feeds, why don't you aggregate them all and offer the feeds up for syndication? There are plenty of news providers who would be more than delighted to enter into a commercial arrangement with you.

GOOD luck!