From Transcripts to Quips

Whether it’s a Sharon Stone appearance on “Larry King Live” or an in-depth look at election ’96 on PBS’ “NewsHour,” transcripts of many news programs are available on the World Wide Web for free, even though the same transcripts are available for a cost by regular mail.

One gold mine of verbatim data comes from the Cable News Network. CNN’s web site, at https://cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/, offers transcripts of all CNN programs dating as far back as the launch of the network’s cyber-home at the end of September 1995.

PBS offers Online Archives, transcripts of its “NewsHour” program (formerly “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour”), at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/background.html. The texts are organized into 32 topics, ranging from Africa to youth. What’s notable about the PBS “News-Hour” transcripts is that references within them are hyper-linked. For example, a mention of Bill Clinton’s State of the Union address will actually link to the White House page that carries the full text of the president’s speech. Photos featuring the people or events referred to in the transcripts are also included.

On a lighter note, computer users can get transcripts of “Late Show With David Letterman” Top 10 lists at https://www.cbs.com/lateshow/ttlist.html. The site is updated every weekday morning with the previous night’s list. You can also peruse the entire “Late Show” Top 10 archives, even searching them by keyword. Entering “Madonna,” for example, will bring up every Top 10 in which the star is mentioned.

To relive “Late Show’s” biggest chuckles, check out Dave’s “Lines of the Week” at https:// www.cbs.com/lateshow/bestshtml, a transcript of Letterman’s best opening remarks from the previous week.