> How has technology, specifically the Internet changed the way 
> journalists find information for their stories?

The Internet has been a boon for journalists.

Not only has email made it easier to contact and follow up with sources, it’s made it easier to file breaking stories (and in some cases photos).

A few years ago, the Usenet helped lead us to those sources and stories. The Web has pretty much supplanted the Usenet for that now. The Web also lets daily journalists get basic background information about a story (like contacts and company history) in minutes as opposed to hours.

For longer pieces, the Web provides access to wide-range of background materials, history, and related information to the topic of the piece, especially for business and political stories (the Clinton impeachment is just one of the more notorious examples of this).

Before I even interview someone, I go online to find as much about them and the topic I will be discussing with them—this is a luxury I sometimes couldn’t afford as I’d have to go to library and fight through old microfiches and periodicals with a deadline looming.

In theory, journalists can offer a more detailed and better researched story to the public because the time it takes to get the research has been cut drastically, leaving more time for crafting the story.

The Internet also helps keep journalists more accountable—especially in online journalism. The dedicated reader/viewer can often go online and look at some of the same research a journalist did and compare it with the final story. Best of all, readers/viewers can contact journalists directly via email to follow up or comment on stories.