Wikinews:Accreditation policy
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This page is an official policy on the English Wikinews. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
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In order for Wikinews contributors to be recognized as members of the press by third parties, they need to receive press credentials. The usual method is for a journalist to file a request for a press pass with an organization (such as a sporting arena, a government or corporate office, etc) and present their credentials issued by a news outlet. The target organization verifies the presented credentials with the news outlet, and following a selection process, issues a press pass to the journalist. The press pass usually allows free access to an event, or priority access to normally off-limits areas.
Wikinews users would need to be officially vouched by Wikinews. There will need to be a process for accreditation of users, and for revocation of credentials.
Wikinews will need to respond to request for verification. This will allow the requesting organization to make sure that the journalist is indeed accredited by Wikinews.
Policy for accreditation
Wikinews users will need to request accreditation from Wikinews prior to filing requests with third parties. The request should take the form of an entry on this page, signed and dated. The request should include a description of types of uses of accreditation the user would like to make. The request should also include the user's real name, as that will likely be used by the third party verifying the journalist's identity. A good request will also point to articles the requesting user has created on Wikinews.
After the posting, the user's entry will solicit Support/Object votes from Wikinews users for the duration of 7 days. At the expiration of this time period the user will either be granted accreditation, or the vote removed from this page.
The criteria for accreditation include:
- being an established Wikinews editor (or a contributor to another Wikimedia Foundation project) for several weeks
- having started several articles on Wikinews or another project
- commitment to NPOV as shown by edits and initial text
- This is especially important for original reporting — the implicit goal of accreditation
A prior track record of being a published journalist, with examples, can also be considered.
Approval requires the consensus of the voting users supporting the request. Only registered Wikinews users' votes are counted in the final tally.
Wikinews will generate a printable image of a personalized Wikinews Press ID Card that a user may print and laminate at their expense.
Policy for processing verification requests
Wikinews credential verification is performed by the verifying party who visits a protected page listing community-accepted users with Wikinews credentials.
The protected page will be kept by sysops on Wikinews.
Policy for revocation of credentials
A user's Wikinews credentials may be revoked for abuse of any access or privileges accorded on the basis of Wikinews credentials, or for significant violations of the NPOV policy. If a user is seen as abusing their credentials, anyone may file a request for credential revocation. Similar to a deletion request for a page, the user requesting someone else's credentials to be revoked must list the reasons, and organize a 2-week vote Support/Oppose consensus vote on the revocation. The user's credentials may also be revoked upon request from the Wikimedia Board of Trustees, according to the Wikinews accreditation policy.
