Keyword Descriptions

Newsfinder offers a broad range of keywords for searching its AP database of over 20,000 stories per week. AP "slugs" are retained as keywords, but beyond that Newsfinder embraces a keywording philosophy that operates in a very different way.

In order to make searching simple for our users, we maintain a relatively static list of keywords. The user is not left guessing what search criteria to use, and is guaranteed success if these words are used.

Following is a list of Newsfinder's keywords, along with their definitions for use.

ABLE
Stories about issues affecting the handicapped and the disabled are included in this category. Topics could include job discrimination, legislation or lawsuits involving rights for the handicapped, medical conditions like cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and paralyzation.
Related Keywords: Labor, Government, Legal, Health

ACCIDENT or ACCIDENTE (Spanish)
Stories involve property damage, personal injury, but no fatalities. There may be serious bodily injury, but no one has died. If a fatality occurs, it is listed under Tragedy.

AFRICA
A geographic keyword used to find stories from the continent of Africa.

AIDS
This keyword refers to stories about the disease itself, research and development of a cure, feature stories on people with AIDS and how they cope, and current plans to test people for the disease.

ANIMALS
Stories can include those dealing with endangered species, research in animal behavior or biology or animals kept in preserves or zoos, feature stories dealing with a particular animal or pets in general, and legislation on the ownership of an animal such as a pit bull are also found in this category.
Related Keywords: Environment, Science, Lifestyle, Government

AP/SPECIAL
This keyword is used to find the AP Special Edition stories. The Special Edition is the supplemental package service provided by the AP to help newspapers produce special sections. Topics in the package usually included stories about Fashion, Homes, Bride & Groom, Holidays, Taxes, Cars, Back to School, Travel and Careers.

ARTS
Stories on the fine arts are found in this category including ballet, orchestras and symphonies, operas, and museums.
Related Keywords: Entertainment

ASIA or ORIENTE (Spanish)
A geographic keyword used to find stories from Asia.

AUSTRALIA
A geographic keyword used to find stories from the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Included are stories from Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

AUTO
Use this keyword to find any stories dealing with the automotive industry. Included will be stories about car care, and foreign and domestic car ratings information.
Related Keywords: Consumers

AWARD
This category deals with all kinds of awards, from the Nobel Peace prizes to Oscars and Emmys, even awards to policemen for heroism and students for spelling bees. Use this keyword with the particular field of the award.
Related Keywords: Entertainment, Media, Science, Government, Youth

BALTICS
A geographic keyword used to find stories from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, etc.

BANKING
Stories dealing with savings and loan institutions, credit unions, banks and the issues affecting them are included with this keyword. Also included are credit card interest rates, and general lending and mortgage rates.
Related Keywords: Consumers

BLACKS
This keyword applies to stories of specific interest to the African-American community. These stories may deal with well-known black individuals or issues that face the black community such as discrimination, school desegregation and civil rights. News about organizations such as the NAACP or the Urban League also fall into this keyword.

BOAT
Stories about recreational boating and boat making are found using this keyword. Included are stories about riverboat gambling and government regulations or licensing, Coast Guard rescues of passengers aboard boats and searches of ships, and military battleships.
Related Keywords: Gambling, Coast, Military, Government

BOOKS
This category concerns publishing companies, book reviews, listings of the week's best sellers, and profiles of authors.
Related Keywords: Reviews, Ratings, Media, Entertainment

BRIEFS or BREVES (Spanish)
Stories that are a compilation of short recaps of longer stories are given this keyword.
Related Keywords: Entertainment, International

BUDGET
This keyword deals specifically with the government budget-making process, from committee work to voting and implementation. It can apply to local, state and federal budgets. Use in conjunction with state postal abbreviations or city name.

BUSH
This keyword includes any story about the president or first family.

BUSINESS or NEGOCIO (Spanish)
Stories in Business involve private companies, whereas stories from the Financial keyword involve any type of finances. A Business story must have a named business in the text of the story.

CANCER
Stories dealing with this disease, research and development into finding a cure, new statistics and information on causes and prevention are given this keyword.

CARIBBEAN or CARIBE (Spanish)
A geographic keyword used to find stories from the Caribbean Islands.

CATHOLIC
Stories dealing with prominent Catholics or Catholic issues are given this keyword. This is typically a subset of Religion.

CENTRAL AMERICA or CENTROAMERICA (Spanish)
A geographic keyword used to find stories about Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, etc.

CHARITY
Stories dealing with philanthropic or volunteer efforts have this keyword. Donations of either money or time qualify. This includes grants to universities; United Way efforts; natural disaster relief efforts or any other story in which a person, organization or company donates something to someone else.

CHEMICAL
This keyword includes stories on the chemical industry, chemical spills and waste disposal, and legislation aimed at regulation in the industry.
Related Keywords: Health, Safety, Environment, Accident

COAST
The keyword accompanies any story dealing with the U.S. Coast Guard, including disaster relief efforts, drug smuggling arrests and seizures, and water accident rescues.

COMBAT
This keyword is used for stories involving war and/or Terrorism.
Related Keywords: International, Middle East, Politics

COMMENTARY
This keyword refers to editorial analyses.

COMPUTER
All stories dealing with computers, computer companies and technology will get this keyword. Also included are stories dealing with the electronics explosion: stories about television sets, compact discs, digital audio technology, camcorders and the like.

CONSUMERS
This keyword deals with stories involving consumer issues.
Related Keywords: Government, Lifestyle, Safety

CRIME or CRIMEN (Spanish)
This keyword is used whenever a crime has been committed, someone has been charged with violating the law, or is on trial for a criminal action.
Related Keywords: Drugs, Offbeat, Legal

DC
This two-character postal abbreviation keyword deserves its own listing here. It refers to stories datelined Washington, DC. Most will involve the federal government (in any of the three branches, and the various federal departments). Combining it with a two-character postal abbreviation will retrieve stories from Washington tied to that particular state.
Related Keywords: Politics, Government, Blacks, Women, Financial ...

DEP
The Spanish word for sports is deportes. This Spanish-language keyword is attached to all Spanish-language sports stories. Individual Spanish-language sports keywords are as follows:
BALONCESTO - Basketball
BEISBOL - Baseball
BOXEO - Boxing
CARROS - Autoracing
FUTBOL - Soccer
FBA - Futbol Americano
GF - Golf
OLI - Olympics
TENIS - Tennis
VOLIBOL - Volleyball

DOMESTIC
This keyword is sent by AP and is attached to non-Washington general news items. This is the "a" wire.

DRUGS or DROGAS (Spanish)
This keyword deals with drug trafficking, smuggling and selling. It also refers to rehabilitation centers and anti-drug programs. Stories may deal with the effect of drugs on people's lives, drug-testing in the workplace, and any appropriate legislative action. The use of this keyword does not refer to medical cures for diseases. Those are found strictly under Health or the disease, such as AIDS.
Related Keywords: Crime, Lifestyle, Labor, Health

ECONOMIA
This Spanish-language keyword is used to locate stories about the government budget making process and industry, income and sales taxes.

EDUCATION or EDUCACION (Spanish)
Stories with this keyword deal with schools, school boards and districts, teachers and the teaching profession, testing, lessons, and students. Any legislation proposed or passed that would affect schools is included. This keyword encompasses the elementary, high school and university levels but does not deal with school sports unless it concerns Sports as a part of the school curriculum, not as individual games or events.
Related Keywords: Financial, Youth, Labor

ED1
A subset of the Education keyword that refers to pre-school, elementary, middle and high schools.

ED2
A subset of the Education keyword that refers to education above the high school level.

EEUU
EEUU is a Spanish-language keyword used to locate stories originating in the United States.

ELDERLY
This keyword applies to stories about issues affecting the elderly such as life after retirement, and problems generally associated with the elderly such as Alzheimer's disease, etc.
Related Keywords: Lifestyle, Health, Labor

ENTERTAINMENT or ENTRETENIMIENTO (Spanish)
Entertainment stories refer to the movies, television, radio, books, theatre, and everything connected with the entertainment industry, such as videotape ratings or reviews for books and movies.
Related Keywords: TV, Movies, Video, Books, Ratings, Reviews, Media, Award

ENVIRONMENT or AMBIENTE (Spanish)
This keyword includes stories about pollution, hazardous wastes and toxic substances, as well as Chemical and Nuclear problems. Stories dealing with endangered species and stories dealing with natural events are also given this keyword.
Related Keywords: Chemical, Nuclear, Weather, Water, Animals

EUROPE or EUROPA (Spanish)
A geographic keyword used to find stories from the European countries.

FAMILY
This keyword is used for stories dealing with parenting, marriage, and any other family related issues. They may be soft or hard news.
Related Keywords: Lifestyle, Youth, Women, Government

FARM
This keyword refers to agriculture, agribusiness, livestock, produce and all the issues facing this industry and way of life.
Related Keywords: Government, Environment, Financial, Labor, Weather

FASHION
Stories on fashion, clothing and design have this keyword.

FINANCIAL or FINANZAS (Spanish)
This keyword deals with the business community, workers, the stock market and corporations. It refers to private industry, not the government's handling of money unless the two are involved in a government contract or if legislation affecting industry is passed. Government budget stories are not financial, but some tax stories may be financial if they are dealing with corporate or business taxes.
Related Keywords: Labor, Banking, Chemical, Insurance, Transportation, Utilities

FOOD
This keyword refers to recipes, information on different types of food, restaurants and cooking. Stories on the food and beverage industry will also have this keyword.

FUN
Stories with this keyword are from a weekly package of soft news stories about homes, travel, religion, entertainment, health, recipes and youth.

GAMBLING
This keyword deals with casino operations, legislation affecting casinos or the establishment of pari-mutuel betting or lotteries. It also includes gambling as a way of life and its effect on individuals.
Related Keywords: Financial, Government, Lottery

GARDENING
Stories on flowers, fruits and vegetable gardening are included in this category.

GAY
Stories about homosexuals are assigned this keyword. Aids stories are only included in this category when there is a specific homosexual reference.

GOVERNMENT or GOBIERNO (Spanish)
This keyword is used with stories dealing with state, city and local executive and legislative bodies and the actions they take, the bills they pass, and committee meetings. It also refers to those people who hold government office when they are acting in an official capacity. This keyword is typically combined with a two-character state postal abbrevation.

HEALTH or SALUD (Spanish)
This keyword specifically refers to the science of medicine and the cure of diseases. Included are stories about medical research, malpractice, and insurance. It refers to doctors, nurses and issues affecting the medical profession.
Related Keywords: Lifestyle, Financial, Women

HISPANIC
Stories in English of specific interest to the Hispanic community are found using this keyword.

HISPANOS
This Spanish-language keyword is used for stories about well-known Hispanic individuals.

HISTORY
Stories with this keyword deal with places of historical significance, landmarks and reminiscences of days-gone-by. They will usually profile an individual era or event, such as the Civil War.

HOLIDAY
This category includes stories on all holidays--federal, state or local religious, ethnic and secular holidays.

HOMES
This keyword refers to personal housing. It deals with houses, apartments, upkeep, decorating, home improvements, and availability. This keyword also concerns buying a home, mortgage rates, loans, and real estate. It does not deal with homelessness.
Related Keywords: Lifestyle, Financial, Banking

HUMAN (Interest)
Stories with this keyword deal with "soft news," profiles of interesting people, places and things. It generally deals with specific, unique individuals, places or events.

INSURANCE
This keyword applies to all insurance stories--city or industrial liability insurance, lawsuits, malpractice insurance and major medical insurance. Also included are stories on legislation affecting the insurance industry as well as the effect of the insurance costs on institutions and individuals.
Related Keywords: Government, Financial, Health, Legal, Auto

INTERNATIONAL or INTERNACIONAL (Spanish)
Any story with a foreign dateline is given this keyword. Also included with this keyword are any stories in which the U.S. has dealings with another country.
Related Keywords: Government, Financial, Terrorism, Politics

ISRAEL
Stories dealing with Israel as a nation and as a people are included in this keyword. Both international and domestic stories of specific interest to the Jewish community are given this keyword, as are stories dealing with Jewish organizations or issues (Jewish Defense League, anti-semitism).

LABOR
This keyword is given to stories dealing specifically with the work force. It refers to stories about unions, strikes, wage disputes, workers' compensation, employment, comparable worth and any other issues dealing with jobs.
Related Keywords: Financial, Blacks, Women, Youth

LEGAL
This keyword goes with stories about the law profession, bar associations, lawyers, the courts, and civil suits in which one party (an individual or corporation) sues another. These stories may also be about rulings made in criminal trials.
Related Keywords: Scotus (Supreme Court of the U.S.), Offbeat, Crime

LIFESTYLE or ESTILOS (Spanish)
Stories that deal with events and issues that touch people in their everyday lives have this keyword. They are generally "soft news" stories on subjects like fashion, children, job success, marriage and health.
Related Keywords: Health, Family, Youth, Fashion

LIQUOR
This keyword applies to stories that deal with the buying, selling and consumption of alcohol. Legislation on the drinking age, drunk-driving penalties, and the licensing of restaurants, bars and stores are found in this keyword, as well as stories on alcoholism.
Related Keywords: Government, Youth, Crime

LOTTERY
This keyword will give you stories about the daily numbers, lotto winners and any legislation affecting lotteries.
Related Keywords: Gambling

MARKETING
This keyword is used for stories about the business activities that direct the flow of products and services from producer to consumer. You will also find stories about product promotions and advertisements under this keyword.

MEDIA
This keyword deals with stories about newspapers, radio stations, and TV news organizations. Stories about First Amendment issues, libel, freedom of information, and advertising would also be included in this keyword.
Related Keywords: Newspaper, TV, Legal, Award, Financial

MIDDLE EAST or MEDIORIENTE (Spanish)
A geographic keyword use to find stories from Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and Yemen, etc.
Related Keywords: Politics, Combat, Terrorism

MILITARY or MILITAR (Spanish)
Stories dealing with the branches of the armed forces, their academies, and personnel are given this keyword.
Related Keywords: International, Combat, Terrorism

MINING
This keyword pertains to stories involving the mining industry. Everything from coal to gold is included.
Related Keywords: Health, Safety, Labor

MOVIES
This keyword is a subset of Entertainment. Use it to locate stories about motion pictures and the film industry.
Related Keywords: Reviews

MUSIC
This keyword is a subset of the Entertainment. Use it to find stories on the recording industry.
Related Keywords: Ratings

NATIVE
This keyword refers to stories about Native American Indians and the issues that concern them. Stories can deal inter-tribal affairs, a tribe's relationship with the local or state, reservation boundaries, hunting and fishing privileges, etc.

NEWSFEATURES
This keyword is for any story that would be considered a "typical" feature story. Included would be profiles and indepth reports of interesting people, places and events. It also includes many regular features like Stamps In The News, How's Your News IQ, etc.

NEWSPAPER
This keyword is typically a subset of Media. It can be used to find stories specifically affecting the newspaper industry.
Related Keywords: Postal,

NUCLEAR
Stories involving nuclear testing, power plants, protests against weapons escalation, etc. are found using this keyword. Other nuclear issues include dumping toxic wastes and any related technology.
Related Keywords: Utilities, Government, Military, Environment

OBIT or OBITUARIO (Spanish)
This keyword refers to obituaries of public figures. Use the last name, the field of occupation or involvement, or a two-character state postal abbreviation to locate a specific story.

OFFBEAT
This keyword is assigned to those stories that are out of the ordinary. They may be funny, or just plain bizarre. This is your typical "man bites dog" story. It is the type of story that makes people shake their heads and wonder what the world is coming to.

OIL
Use this keyword to locate stories about the oil and gasoline industry.

OUTDOORS
Stories with this keyword are about the fishing and hunting season or any related subjects such as commercial fishing, tanning hides or curing meat. Any stories dealing with hunting or fishing on Indian reservations or legislation on limits set by the Department of Natural Resources are also included.

PLASTICS
This keyword deals with new research and technology, environmental matters, new laws, consumer news and anything else that has to do with the plastics industry.

POLICE
Stories with this keyword include stories relating to police as employees, rescues involving unusual efforts, and crimes committed by police. The keyword is not intended to hold stories relating to the arrests of civilians.

POLITICS or POLITICA (Spanish)
Stories with this keyword deal with elections, political parties, issues (such as abortion, apartheid, and general political protests) and government figures when they are not acting in a way that is specific to their jobs. When a governor signs legislation, that is Government. When he announces that he is running again for office, that is Politics.
Related Keywords: Blacks, Women, Crime

POSTAL
This keyword is used for stories involving anything to do with the mails.

PRISON
Stories with this keyword include the development of prisons, prison crime, and any government proposals.

RATINGS
Stories with this keyword are generally about the rankings of television shows, videos, and music. Sports team rankings may also get this keyword.
Related Keywords: Entertainment, Sports

RECREATION
This keyword is used for stories concerning things that people do in their spare time. It includes stories on hobbies and other activities people do for fun.

RELIGION or RELIGIONES (Spanish)
Stories with this keyword deal with the various churches, clergy, religious movements, protests, religious discrimination and crimes.

RESEARCH
This keyword is given to stories dealing with scientific study. It also applies to opinion polls and the like.

REVIEWS
This keyword is for reviews of any kind.
Related Keywords: Entertainment, Movies, TV, Books

SAFETY
This keyword refers to stories involving safety issues of consumers, workers, and the environment, etc.
Related Keywords: Consumers, Labor, Lifestyle, Health

SCIENCE
This keyword applies to scientific research, developments and breakthroughs and information in all aspects of the sciences, including space exploration.

SEX
This category includes stories about sexual relationships, pornography, medical research, sex crimes and scandals, sexual harassment, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Related Keywords: Offbeat, Crime, Labor, Health, Women

SMOKING
All facets of the tobacco industry are referred to with this keyword.

SOUTH AMERICA or SURAMERICA (Spanish)
This geographic keyword is used to find stories from South America.

SPANISH
This keyword is assigned to every Spanish-language story that is not sports related.

SPORTS
This keyword refers to all stories dealing with all sports, individual athletes, teams at all levels (high school, college, professional), coaches and schools. It refers to both regular and feature sports stories. This keyword, used by itself, will yield an unwieldy list of headlines.

NEWSFINDER picks up the Associated Press's special codes for sports stories.
The keywords are:
BBN - National League Baseball
BBA - American League Baseball
BBO - Other Baseball, including prep

FBC - College Football
FBN - National Football League
FBO - Other Football, including prep

BKC - College Basketball
BKN - National Basketball Association
BKW - Women's Basketball
BKO - Other Basketball, including prep

HKC - College Hockey
HKN - National Hockey League
HKO - Other Hockey, including prep

OLY - Olympics
GLF - Golf
SOC - Soccer
TEN - Tennis

To locate stories about auto racing use CAR, NASCAR, WINSTON, etc.
Examples:
*SPORTS.TX.BKO (To find Texas prep basketball stories)
*SPORTS.HKN (To find National Hockey League stories)
*SPORTS.BBN (or BBA) (To find stories about pro baseball)
*SPORTS.HKN.CHICAGO (To find stories about Chicago Blackhawks)

TAXES
Included in this keyword are stories on business or industry taxes, income or sales taxes, or property taxes. Feature stories on filing tax forms or advice on coping with new tax laws will also be found here.

TERRORISM or TERRORISMO (Spanish)
This keyword includes stories on political unrest, revolutions, or many types of political crimes.
Related Keywords: Politics, International, Crime, Combat

TRAGEDY
When a fatality has occurred, this keyword is given to the story.

TRANSPORTATION
Stories involving the transportation industry (railroads, airlines, buses, autos, trucking) are given this keyword. Also included are stories on various federal, state and local departments of transportation that may deal with legislation affecting the industries of highway and road repair.
Related Keywords: Accident, Tragedy, Financial, Safety

TRAVEL
Stories with this keyword deal with resorts, places for vacations, etc.

TV
This keyword is a subset of Entertainment. Use it to find any stories involving the television industry.
Related Keywords: Lifestyle, Ratings, Reviews

UTILITIES
Stories with this keyword are those regarding public water, electric companies, natural gas companies, nuclear reactors and telephone companies. Most utilities are privately owned and would also be categorized as Financial and/or Business.

VETERANS
This keyword is used to find stories relating to military veterans.

VIDEO
As a subset of the Entertainment keyword, this keyword refers to stories involving the video cassettes industry.
Related Keywords: Entertainment, Ratings, Reviews, Financial

WASHINGTON
See DC

WATER
Stories involving rivers, lakes, oceans, ground and drinking water, etc. fall into this kewyord.
Related Keywords: Environment, Health, Recreation

WEATHER
All Weather stories are given this keyword. To narrow a search, add the two-character postal abbreviation. Floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and other major catastrophes are included.
Related Keywords: Environment, Farm, Accident, Tragedy

WOMEN
This keyword contains those stories of particular interest to women, or about women. Stories highlight issues such as: employment, abortion, and lifestyles. They may be about a particular woman, but only if her actions can be related to women in general or are noteworthy because she is a woman.
Related Keywords: Labor, Politics, Health, Lifestyle

YOUTH
Stories with this keyword deal with matters of interest to young people. Topics include youths in general, noteworthy young people, drinking age legislation, and no-pass, no-play rules.
Related Keywords: Education, Lifestyle, Award, Crime