Find is the search tool in the Isentia platform for locating media items. Using keywords, search across all of your organisation’s media coverage, and then action, filter, or sort the media items that appear in your search results.

In this article learn how to use the Find tool to locate relevant media items and how to action and manage the media items that appear in your search results.

Exploring the find page

Find is where you can search for matching media items and then action, filter, and sort your search results. Here’s an overview of the find page:

Finding media items

Using related keywords will determine which media items appear in your search results. The keywords you use should be relevant to the media items you’re looking for.

Relevant keywords may include the name of an organisation, spokesperson, campaign, or a specific media outlet or media contact. Once you’ve input your keywords, select Search and any matching media items will be displayed in your results.

Scope of your search

The scope is where the Isentia platform will search to return matching media items.

By default, any search you run will search across your organisation’s media coverage, but depending on inclusions in your Isentia service, you can access an additional scope and have the option to search across the whole Isentia database.

Find scope: My coverage

Using the search scope My Coverage, you will search across all of the media coverage curated by your organisation’s Isentia service. This includes any media items not currently in your account because they have not been curated by the topics you have set up.

Find scope: All of Isentia

The All of Isentia scope allows you to search beyond your organisation’s coverage across the whole Isentia database, giving you access to millions of additional media items.

Select All of Isentia when completing your search, and any matching media items across the whole Isentia database from up to 12 months previous will be included in your search results.

Note: Access to the All of Isentia find feature depends on your Isentia agreement. If you have any questions about accessing this feature, contact your account management team, who can help.

Content restrictions

Due to copyright laws and publisher agreements, not all media available in the Mediaportal database is accessible via Off Brief Search.

Accessible content may vary depending on your region, subscription, or the access rights Isentia’s suppliers provide. When restricted media that matched your search appears in your results, a “COPYRIGHT RESTRICTED” badge will appear on the media item card, and actions for the item will be limited to prevent it from being opened, actioned or viewed.

Creating effective keywords

The keywords you use to complete your search will determine which media items are displayed in your find results. Here are some tips to help you create the best possible search terms and run the most effective search:

Upper or lower-case

The keywords you use are not case-sensitive. So, using automation, Automation, or even AuTomATION as a keyword will return all media items that contain the term automation.

Single words

When searching for media items, using a single search term will return the broadest possible results (unless it’s a unique name, term, or keyword).

Searching for the term technology will return all matching media items that contain this term. If you receive a lot of technology-related content, this may not provide the results you are looking for.

If you are looking for content on a specific area of interest, we suggest using multiple keywords or Boolean operators to create specific keywords and run better searches that will return the media items you want to see in your results.

Multiple keywords

Using multiple keywords (without boolean operators) will return media items that contain all of your keywords in the order you search for them.

For example, searching for Automation technology machine learning will only return media items that contain all four keywords in that exact order.

To return media items containing any individual keywords, use commas or the Boolean operator “OR” between your keywords.

Boolean operators

Boolean operators are simple words (AND, OR, NOT) used to combine or exclude keywords from your search. They can help you save time by removing irrelevant media items from your search results and help you run better searches by allowing you to be specific with which items are included in your search results.

Boolean Operator	Example	Search Results
AND	automation AND technology	All media items contain both the terms automation and technology.
OR	automation OR technology	All media items that contain either the term automation or technology
NOT	automation NOT technology	All media items that contain the term automation but do not include the term technology

Exact Phrases

Like multiple keywords, using exact phrases will search for the terms in your “phrase” in the order they appear. For example, searching for machine learning will return all media items that contain the exact phrase machine learning.  

Note: You do not need to surround phrases with quotes (“…”). Any search terms that do not include Boolean operators like OR, AND, or NOT will be considered a phrase

Exact phrases with Boolean operators

The search term Machine Learning NOT automation will return media items that contain the exact phrase machine learning but which do not include the word automation. 

Wildcards

Wildcards are a great way to search for multiple terms at once and capture any variations in the spelling or tense of a term. Wildcards are added to a search term using the * symbol after several letters in a term or phrase.

For example, using the search term tech* will return all media items that include matches with the exact word (in this case, tech), plus any matches to any term extension such as technology, technologic, or technological.

If you are using the wildcard after several letters in a phrase, for example, if you are searching for a journalist and use the term Dav Ryan*, your search results will return media items that include matches with the exact phrase (Dav Ryan), plus any matches to any extensions of the words in the phrase, such as Dav Ryans, David Ryan, Dave Ryan, David Ryans. 

Note: Wildcards can only follow a single word or phrase. They cannot be used within a phrase e.g. mach* learning. 

Media Item View

When viewing media items in your find results, you can choose to view your items in either the magazine view or the table view.

Magazine View

Magazine view is the default view of media items within the Isentia platform and provides a more visual view of your media coverage. Magazine view displays additional information for each piece of media coverage, including attributed keywords, summary text, and related images.

Table View

The table view displays more media items on the page, displaying the key information for each media item. In the table view, you’ll see details including the publication, journalist, headline, media type and the time and date the item was published.

Switching media item view

Easily switch between different media item views using the option shown in your topic, and selecting the view you want to use. Your most recent view choice will be remembered when you sign into the Isentia platform.

Quick Actions

You can use quick actions to speed up engaging with the media items that appear in your find results. Hover over a media item in your results to see the following quick actions:

• Mark as read – Instantly change the media item to the “read” state
• View original – Open a direct link to the original media item.
• Copy link – Copy the direct link to the original media item for easy sharing

Note: If copyright or content restrictions exist on any of the media items that appear in your find results, the quick actions will not be displayed.

Filtering and sorting your search results

After completing your search, matching media items will be displayed in your search results. You can then use additional options to help you manage and refine the media items you see in your results.

Topic filter

Filter your search results to only media items that appear in selected topics, giving you greater control to easily refine your search and search across a specified set of coverage.

Media Type

Refine your results to only display media items from selected media types, using the media type filter.

Date Range

The date filter allows you to change the time period being searched to find matching media items. You can select from one of the preset options or set a custom date range up to 12 months in advance.

Note: If you are searching using the All of Isentia scope, you can set a custom date range up to 6 months previously, and local copyright and content restrictions may limit date ranges that can be searched against.

Sorting options

There are also a number of sorting options that can be applied to the media items that appear in your search results so you can order the media items in a way that suits you.

By default, your items will be sorted by date, from newest to oldest. Additional sorting options include sorting by media type, media contact, or by geographic location.

Actioning your search results

Once you’ve completed your search, there are many actions you can apply to the items in your search results.

By selecting the check box next to each media item in your search results, you can export the selected media items into a CSV spreadsheet format, add them to the manual report builder, or add them to a topic of your choosing.

You can also select an individual media item card shown in your search results to open the full item view and see more details about that item.

Note: Due to content rights limitations, actions on media items that appear in your search results using the All of Isentia scope will be limited. You can add these items to a manual report to share with stakeholders or open the full item view to access additional information on that media item.