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Selecting a clipping service used to be fairly easy. There were relatively few choices, and they all had a similar pricing structure, reading list and delivery system. The only technological marvel they made use of was a pair of scissors.

Today, your choices are much broader, and more frustrating. Services may monitor news locally, regionally, nationally, internationally, in web editions, and even in chatrooms. Fee structures vary widely and can reach well into the thousands each month. Delivery can range from periodic to near real-time. Clips can come in hardcopy, on disk, by e-mail or over the fax. But no single service is likely to offer everything you are looking for. So how do you formulate an approach to clipping?

Start by reviewing the strengths and limitations of the various approaches to clipping available today.

"In-House" Clipping (Print)

Strengths - Do-it-yourselfers can achieve same day clipping in key papers. Cost is low: subscription fees and a staffer's time.

Limitations - Because reading is labor intensive (not to mention boring), it is usually impractical to read more than a few papers.
Keep in mind - If you do miss something, you can't blame it on your clipping service.

"In-House" Clipping (Internet)

Strengths - Most papers have a search function, so you can usually clip more quickly, and monitor more papers. Again, cost is modest.

Limitations - Many papers are now "fee-based", so you'll need your credit card handy to start. Some download as a memory-hogging graphic. Others download with unwanted advertising. Some don't allow downloading at all, so you'll be doing screen prints. Archives are usually limited to just a few days, so you have to clip frequently.

Keep in mind - Web editions are not the same as print editions. While you probably know this, anticipate others in your organization sending you on a few wild goose chases.

Local/Regional Clipping Services

Strengths - These services are the best means of capturing local print, including 'home-town' weeklies and small circulation papers. Costs are usually quite reasonable. This is an excellent choice if your organization/client's coverage is primarily confined to a local geographic area.

Limitations - Timeliness and accuracy can vary widely from service to service, and not all areas of the country have a local service available.

Keep in mind - You may wish to consider a national or electronic service also, with instructions to eliminate the overlap. You'll catch the occasional national mention without running up your per clip fees.

National Clipping Services (Traditional)

Strengths - The scissors-method giants (Bacon's, Burrelle's and Luce) are the best means of capturing all U.S. newspapers, regardless of size. There are about 15,000 dailies and weeklies (including about 14,000 you've probably never heard of). They also provide a good selection of magazines, trades and journals. They can provide actual newsprint or photocopies. Countries can be added for an additional fee. Delivery is usually 2-3 times per week, by mail. Expect to pay a reader fee of about $250/month, plus in excess of $1 per clip.

Limitations - Common complaints include delays in receipt of articles (sometimes by months), misses, duplication, erroneous clips, and frequent price increases.

Keep in mind - While actual newsprint has an unmatched feel of authenticity, articles do arrive in odd sizes and promptly curl up and turn yellow. Reproducing newsprint or photocopies can result in something barely legible. Expect organizing, distributing and filing to turn into an ongoing arts and crafts project.

Electronic Clipping (including CompetitivEdge)

Strengths - These services search databases of print and web publications around the world, and can provide newspapers, wire service releases, magazines, trades, journals, 'zines and broadcast transcriptions. Pricing usually falls between a local service, and a traditional national service. Timeliness and accuracy are improved. All articles have a masthead, and text is formatted to look like the original. Delivery frequency is user determined, as is delivery method (laser-print, disk, CD, e-mail or fax).

Limitations - Graphics are not available, and ads are not available. Most weeklies and small circulation dailies are not yet available either. You'll want to check the trade coverage provided for your particular industry. There is a 0-48 hour delay on most newspapers, and magazines/trades can lag by several weeks.

Keep in mind - Retroactive searches, event coverage, release tracking, citation listings and other one-time needs can be met easily by electronic clipping services.

Online Services (Web/Internet monitoring)

Strengths - You can achieve a steady stream of quality information, or opt for an early morning "heads up" delivery. Services range from monitoring a few hundred "top" sources to monitoring of thousands of sites, chat rooms, listservs and more, and are priced accordingly from $200/month to well over $2,000/month. This is an excellent choice for reputation management, large corporations, major consumer goods companies, and the occasional media crisis.

Limitations - Delivery is usually by e-mail only, and can generate a lot of information which isn't useful. Most articles and items will arrive as flat text, or as a URL link.

Keep in mind - Expect to have to refine your search criteria several times before the majority of your results are on target. And remember that we are well on our way to completely mapping human DNA, but the web is another story.

A few final thoughts: It usually requires a combination of two or more of the above approaches to create a truly effective monitoring program. Don't be shy about asking questions or requesting samples, trial periods, references, or discounts. Although you may not always get the answer you want, it will help you make the right choices.

Buzzwords:

Clipping - A single article, press release, or webpage.

Reader Fee - a monthly flat charge for a clipping program

Per Clip Charge - a per article fee (or per page fee) for a story, charged on top of the reader fee.

Keywords - the phrases, names and specific words you wish to have clipped.

Filtering - review (usually human) of clips to determine that they actually meet your criteria.

False hit - a clip that contains your keyword, but shouldn't be sent to you. (Example: a request for articles on (children's) yo-yo's generates clips on yo-yo dieting and cellist Yo Yo Ma).

Dup - shorthand for duplicate, as when your story appears in the Los Angeles Times, and you receive identical copies from eight editions of the Los Angeles Times.

Miss - a story which you should have received is not provided by your clipping service.

Lag (or lag-time) - the time between the actual publication of a story and the time you actually receive it.

Permissions - the department at an individual newspaper that should be contacted if you wish to reproduce or distribute an article.

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