um, many questions came to mind when I read your post (like what news, from
where, presented to whom).
Have you tried using a search engine and search for "free news clips" ? In
alltheweb.com I found
www.britishpathe.com, which claims to offer low res clips at no charge.
My guess is that most news organizations might be willing to sell you the
rights to some of their clips with restrictions. Your best bet, after using
some search engines, would be to contact some news orgs and tell them how
you want to use their clips and ask them to allow you to use them. I think
I know what their response will be (not for free), but I've been wrong
before.
Good luck
Raymond
