• FT profile
• Lexis Nexis
• Dialog Web
• Uncover Web
• Time Inc. Picture Collection
• GovBot

The World Wide Web also functions as a marketplace for companies that sell information. There are literally thousands of commercial databases located in every corner of the world and specialising on a wide range of topics, delivering accurate and detailed data. Recently, some of these databases started using the WWW as a means of accessing their data. With the use of the familar WWW-browser as a plattform, they have eliminated the need for proprietary software clients or extensive training to use their products and services, making these vast and well organised pools of information more easily accessible. Their many years of experience make them both very efficient and fast.

Unlike most services on the WWW, commercial databases make you pay to access their data. The billing system is different for almost each of them. Some of them charge their subscribers a flat fee, some by articles or lines and some for the time spent in their system. Most of them are quite expensive but allow you quick access to a lot of reliable information. Four commercial databases are especially interesting for journalists: Lexis Nexis, FT profile, Dialog Web, and Uncover Web.

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FT profile

FT profile specialises in business- and financial news, market research, company information and industry data including banking and finance. Subscribers pay for information according to a pricing system that takes the value of the information into account. Stock-quotes are thus more expensive then newspaper-articles. The service offers national and international news sources from the UK, Europe and North America, including newspapers like The Times, Le Monde... In some cases, FT profile's archive goes as far back as 1981. FT profile is clearly structured and easy to navigate.

Lexis-Nexis

LEXIS-NEXIS is the world's largest information service, providing news as well as legal and financial information. 1.3 billion documents are already online. 7,000 databases and 13,800 news and business sources are available. LEXIS-NEXIS charges both subscription and transactional fees.

Dialog Web

The fast and reliable, though rather expensive database Dialog Web is the result of the merger between Knight-Ridder Information and M.A.I.D plc. Dialogweb allows you to access a collection of over 900 databases. All information is sorted according to specialised areas like business, science, technology, news... Similar to FT Profile, Dialog Web charges depending on the "worth" of the information.

Uncover Web

Uncover Web is owned by "Dialog". The CARL Uncover Database includes more than 7 million articles in English from 17,000 periodicals, with 5,000 more added each day. You can search for free but have to pay the if you order an article.

Time Inc. Picture Collection

This database is any photo-journalists dream: Time Inc. has made its huge collection of photos available online. They have literally millions of pictures from decades of photo-journalism. As a registered user you can browse this collection, get all the neccessary information about the photos and purchase licenses. Registration is free and they also offer a guided tour for guest.

GovBot

Strictly speaking this site does not fit in the category of commercial databases, because
a, it is free and b, it is not a database itself, but is an interface to search US-government databases. According to the The Center For Intelligent Information Retrieval GovBot accesses well over 1 million pages of information and and is particularly useful for finding out about legislation, court decisions, and regulations.

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