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.[1] It has also been recommended for use in academic research and has indeed been leveraged as a key data source in peer-reviewed studies.[2][3][4][5][6] 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...".[7] 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.[8]
^"Bacon's Internet Media Directory." Online 24, no. 3 (2000): 13.