Cision Media Contacts Database
The Cision Media Contacts Database (formerly known as Bacon's Media Directories) gathers information on media contacts and outlets (currently over 1.6 million, updating daily). Though a commercial resource, it has often been exploited for academic research applications.
The database is useful for marketing and public relations work."Bacon's Internet Media Directory." Online 24, no. 3 (2000): 13. It has also been recommended for use in academic research and has indeed been leveraged as a key data source in peer-reviewed studies.{{Cite web|date=27 Dec 2021|title=Research Guides {{!}} Journalism and Communications: Media Directories|url=https://researchguides.uoregon.edu/journalism/media-directories|website=UO Libraries}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=September 22, 2021|title=Emerson College Library: Advertising: Media Directories|url=https://guides.library.emerson.edu/c.php?g=37867&p=240679|access-date=2021-12-29|website=guides.library.emerson.edu|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=November 26, 2021|title=Research Guides: Digital Media: Media Directories|url=https://libguides.marquette.edu/c.php?g=36721&p=233312|access-date=2021-12-29|website=libguides.marquette.edu|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last1=McGregor|first1=Shannon C|last2=Molyneux|first2=Logan|date=October 5, 2018|title=Twitter's influence on news judgment: An experiment among journalists|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464884918802975|journal=Journalism|language=en|volume=21|issue=5|pages=597–613|doi=10.1177/1464884918802975|hdl=20.500.12613/396 |s2cid=149855495 |issn=1464-8849|hdl-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=Angela M|last2=Coleman|first2=Renita|date=May 30, 2018|title='We're more ethical than they are': Third-person and first-person perceptions of the ethical climate of American journalists|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464884918778249|journal=Journalism|language=en|volume=21|issue=9|pages=1157–1174|doi=10.1177/1464884918778249|s2cid=150068931 |issn=1464-8849|url-access=subscription}} As summarized by professor Philip M. Napoli, these directories are "widely regarded as the best-available commercial database for identifying media outlets and media workers in the United States," especially as "[t]he scale and scope of the data contained within Cision far exceed what can generally be gathered by academic researchers...".{{Citation|last=Napoli|first=Philip M.|title=Chapter Three. Media Capture and the Crisis in Local Journalism|date=2021-12-31|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/schi18882-004/html|work=Media Capture|pages=46–66|editor-last=Schiffrin|editor-first=Anya|publisher=Columbia University Press|doi=10.7312/schi18882-004|isbn=978-0-231-54802-1|access-date=2021-12-29|url-access=subscription}} However, some scholars critique the use of Cision in such research because its method of gathering data "sweep[s] up problematic actors," such as bots, when aggregating data on media contacts.{{Cite journal|last1=Molyneux|first1=Logan|last2=Zamith|first2=Rodrigo|date=June 17, 2020|title=Surveying journalists in the "New Normal": Considerations and recommendations|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464884920935277|journal=Journalism|language=en|volume=23|issue=1|pages=153–170|doi=10.1177/1464884920935277|hdl=20.500.12613/390 |s2cid=242490091 |issn=1464-8849|hdl-access=free}}