news-monitor-mcp 0.2.0

MCP server for global news monitoring via WorldNewsAPI – search, sentiment analysis, top headlines, and media monitoring for Swiss public institutions

🇨🇭 Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio

📰 news-monitor-mcp

MCP server for global news monitoring, media analysis and sentiment tracking via WorldNewsAPI — full-text search across 150+ countries, German/English sentiment analysis, top headlines, GL briefings, newspaper front pages and geo-search. API key required.

🇩🇪 Deutsche Version

---

Overview

news-monitor-mcp transforms any AI assistant into a proactive media intelligence agent. The server connects LLMs like Claude with global news data: from Swiss institutional reputation monitoring to weekly leadership briefings and trend detection across categories.

Source: WorldNewsAPI (worldnewsapi.com) — the only freely available news API with German-language sentiment analysis.

API key required. Get a free key at worldnewsapi.com/console (1,000 calls/month free tier).

Anchor demo query: "How has the Schulamt Zürich been portrayed in the media over the last 30 days, and what is the overall sentiment?"

---

Features

• 🔍 Full-text search – 150+ countries, 50+ languages, Boolean queries and exact phrase matching
• 📊 Sentiment analysis – German and English only (WorldNewsAPI unique feature); scores from −1 (negative) to +1 (positive)
• 📰 Top headlines – clustered by country and language, ranked by number of sources reporting
• 📋 Media briefing – multi-topic weekly report with sentiment overview for GL / leadership updates
• 🗞️ Newspaper front pages – digital covers from 6,000+ publications in 125 countries
• 📡 Trend radar – category-based trend detection (politics, technology, education, …) per country
• 📍 Geo-search – location-specific news (Zürich, Bern, Basel, Kanton Zürich, …)
• ☁️ Dual transport – stdio for Claude Desktop, Streamable HTTP for cloud deployment

#	Tool	Description
1	news_search	Full-text news search in 150+ countries
2	news_top_headlines	Top headlines by country and language
3	news_sentiment_monitor	Sentiment analysis for entity or topic
4	news_media_briefing	Multi-topic weekly briefing report
5	news_retrieve_article	Fetch full article by ID
6	news_search_sources	Find available news sources by name/country
7	news_front_pages	Digital newspaper front pages
8	news_trend_radar	Category-based trend detection per country
9	news_geo_search	Location-specific news search

---

Data Sources

Source	API Type	Content
WorldNewsAPI	REST JSON	150+ countries, 50+ languages, full text, sentiment

---

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• uv or pip
• API key from worldnewsapi.com/console (free tier available)

---

Installation

# Recommended: uvx (no install step needed)
uvx news-monitor-mcp

# Alternative: pip
pip install news-monitor-mcp

---

Quickstart

# Start the server (stdio mode for Claude Desktop)
WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY=your-key uvx news-monitor-mcp

Try it immediately in Claude Desktop:

"Show me the top news from Switzerland today" "How is the Schulamt Zürich covered in German-language media this month?" "Create a media briefing on: Volksschule Zürich, AI in education, school digitalisation"

---

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY	–	Required. API key from worldnewsapi.com
MCP_TRANSPORT	stdio	Transport: stdio or streamable_http
MCP_PORT	8000	Port for HTTP transport

Claude Desktop Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "news-monitor": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["news-monitor-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config file locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

After restarting Claude Desktop, all tools are available. Example queries:

• "Show me the top Swiss news today"
• "What is the media sentiment on AI in education this month?"
• "Create a weekly briefing for: Schulamt Zürich, Volksschule, KI Bildung"
• "Find all German-language articles about school digitalisation in the last 14 days"
• "Show me the front pages of Swiss newspapers today"

Cloud Deployment (Streamable HTTP)

For use via claude.ai in the browser (e.g. on managed workstations without local software):

Render.com (recommended):

1. Push/fork the repository to GitHub
2. On render.com: New Web Service → connect GitHub repo
3. Set WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY in the Render dashboard environment variables
4. In claude.ai under Settings → MCP Servers, add: https://your-app.onrender.com/mcp

# Docker / local HTTP mode
WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY=your-key MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable_http MCP_PORT=8000 python -m news_monitor_mcp.server

---

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────────────┐
│  Claude / AI    │────▶│   News Monitor MCP        │────▶│   WorldNewsAPI           │
│  (MCP Host)     │◀────│   (MCP Server)            │◀────│   REST JSON API          │
└─────────────────┘    │                            │    │   150+ countries         │
                       │  9 Tools                   │    │   50+ languages          │
                       │  Stdio | Streamable HTTP   │    │   Sentiment DE/EN        │
                       └──────────────────────────┘    └──────────────────────────┘

---

Project Structure

news-monitor-mcp/
├── src/
│   └── news_monitor_mcp/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       └── server.py          # All 9 tools
├── tests/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   └── test_server.py         # 20 tests (unit + live)
├── pyproject.toml
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── LICENSE
├── README.md                  # This file (English)
└── README.de.md               # German version

---

Testing

# Unit tests (no API key required)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "not live"

# Integration tests (live API calls, API key required)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "live"

---

Example Use Cases

Schulamt / Institutional Communication

"How has the Schulamt Zürich been portrayed in media over the last 30 days?"
→ news_sentiment_monitor(entity="Schulamt Zürich", language="de", days_back=30)

"Create a weekly media briefing for leadership"
→ news_media_briefing(topics=["Volksschule Zürich", "KI Bildung", "Schuldigitalisierung"])

"What are Swiss media reporting on school digitalisation?"
→ news_search(query="Schuldigitalisierung", language="de", source_country="ch")

KI-Fachgruppe / AI Working Group

"What are the current tech trends in Swiss press this week?"
→ news_trend_radar(category="technology", source_country="ch", language="de")

"How are AI developments in education covered internationally?"
→ news_search(query="AI education classroom", language="en", number=20)

"Compare Swiss and German media coverage of AI regulation"
→ news_search(query="KI Regulierung", source_country="ch", language="de")
→ news_search(query="KI Regulierung", source_country="de", language="de")

City Administration / Location Research

"What is being reported about Zürich school infrastructure?"
→ news_geo_search(location="Zürich", query="Schule")

"Show today's front pages of Swiss newspapers"
→ news_front_pages(source_country="ch")

---

Sentiment Analysis

WorldNewsAPI offers German-language sentiment analysis — rare among news APIs:

Score	Label	Meaning
> 0.3	positiv 😊	Positive coverage
−0.3 to 0.3	neutral 😐	Neutral / factual coverage
< −0.3	negativ 😟	Critical / negative coverage

⚠️ Sentiment is only available for German (de) and English (en).

---

Known Limitations

• Sentiment analysis: Only German (de) and English (en) — no French or Italian
• Free tier: 1,000 API calls/month, max 10 articles per call (paid plans: up to 100)
• Historical data: Free tier limited to 30 days; paid plans offer extended history
• Source coverage: Swiss regional media may be less well-indexed than national outlets

---

Synergies with Other MCP Servers

news-monitor-mcp can be combined with other servers in the portfolio:

Combination	Use Case
+ fedlex-mcp	Law meets discourse: legal framework + media coverage
+ global-education-mcp	OECD stats + current media context
+ srgssr-mcp	Swiss public media + international news comparison
+ swiss-environment-mcp	Environmental data + media reporting
+ swiss-statistics-mcp	BFS statistics + current media narrative
+ zurich-opendata-mcp	City data + local media coverage

---

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md

---

License

MIT License — see LICENSE

---

Author

Hayal Oezkan · malkreide

---

Credits & Related Projects

• Data: WorldNewsAPI – global news data with sentiment analysis
• Protocol: Model Context Protocol – Anthropic / Linux Foundation
• Related: swiss-culture-mcp – MCP server for Swiss cultural heritage data
• Related: srgssr-mcp – MCP server for SRG SSR Swiss public media
• Portfolio: Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio