Waking up and flipping through the newspaper is second nature for most of us. For the news junkie, reading one newspaper is just a prelude.

In my father's time, subscribing to a couple of newspapers, if not more, was common, as was having a relaxed debate over the latest news on the front page.

Welcome to the 21st century, where reading a newspaper from Page 1 to Page Last is a rarity in itself. Blogs, Twitter, headlines masquerading as RSS feeds, and startup pages have taken over.

Will newspapers survive or will they end up as fish wrapper?

Even now, when information is just a keyword away, newspapers have retained their charm. We may not flip the paper pages as often, but we do click on their online ones.

With online newspaper websites we can connect to other sources of information that can make us see a news story in a different way. With a click we can see what's happening in some other part of the world. Newspaper reporting is dyed in the wool reporting. As opposed to blogs which can be more personally expressed. Online newspaper websites are great sources for research because of their archival news stocks.

These five online newspaper websites are not standalone news sites. They are a jumping point to find local and national newspapers around the world. With any of these websites, you can access news as it is published in newspapers (or their online forms) around the globe.

Newspapers.com

find local newspapers

Newspapers.com is not a very attractive site. The site's purpose is to connect the reader to US and world newspapers. World newspaper links are arranged by area and can be further selected by country from a dropdown. US newspapers can be selected by state from a dropdown to find local newspapers. Additional search options let you filter your search by categories (business, college, entertainment, specialty etc). You can dropdown to search for weeklies or dailies.

Newspapers.com is a simple listing site for newspapers, radio stations, movie showtimes and jobs. It's a place to get to know some links on newspapers that cover specific areas around the globe.

Onlinenewspapers.com

find local newspapers

Onlinenewspapers.com takes a similar dropdown selection approach to newspapers and magazines around the world. Reading too much of frontpage breaking news is a damper, so what's great is the access to magazines from around the world. You can jump straight to the links of the Top 50 newspapers for the United States, or of the world, or the Top 50 magazines for the world. You can also use the site's feedback form to let them know of any new online newspaper link that can be added to their index.

The Paperboy.com

find local newspapers

A listing of 6,371 newspapers is too much for even the diehard news junkie. So, it's better if you know your subject of interest. That will help you to narrow down the news source when you select magazines by subject from a dropdown. The website also has a Google Custom search with an advanced search option.

Newspapers24.com

find newspapers

Newspapers24 is an even larger index of worldwide newspapers. There are 12,000 from 216+ locations, categorized by region, as an alphabetical list, by circulation, and also newspapers from the top 400 cities of the world. To top all that, you can even browse by language. You can use the geographic links or the neat little map to go to region specific newspapers. Searching by country gives you not only the land's national newspapers but also the local regional ones.

Newseum

find newspapers

The Newseum is the online portal of the brick and mortar Newseum, which is a 250,000-square-foot museum of news. The center is about letting visitors have a first-hand understanding of the impact of news on our lives and culture. The online site has sections that follow the activities at Newseum like exhibits, theatrical shows, educational events etc. When it comes to newspapers and news, Newseum also has a section called - Today's Front Pages.

Newseum presents these daily newspaper front pages in their original, unedited form. The display amounts to 743 front pages from 78 countries. Clicking on the thumbnail takes you to the full size view. You can follow the newspaper site's link and go to the official newspaper website.

A PDF link downloads the front page in the format. For research reasons, you can click on the View Archived Pages link to check out past newspaper snippets chronicling events of historical significance. Each link brings up the front pages from varied newspapers which have covered the event.

Even for a news junkie, so many varied sources could be a horn of plenty and totally impractical for day to day reading. But access to a global perspective on news is a serious research tool. We may live in a connected world, but when it comes to news we consume what our local publications and networks dish out. Why not check out a few links from these sites and see what the world is taking about, and how?

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