Wikinews:Purpose

The Purpose of Wikinews is:

list...

News agency: 
   (News) > Digest > First Report(A) > Editorial > Letters(P)
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Wikinews:||          ||  
               ||        Digest > Late Report(N)
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Blogs: << (News) Anecdotal,Theories(A) >> Comment >> (P)FB

Concepts: (A=authorship, N=NoAuthorship, P=Public feedback)

News agency to blog relationship is highly synergetic, whereas the concept of "editing" either news or comment remains paradoxical: Either something is a report or its a comment, both in the blog or news spheres.

Pro reporters benefit from blogs in a number of ways:

As shield - not alone in reporting an interpretation of news.
As a idea pool - reportage can confirm public suspicion.
As a vent - for airing comment which cannot be commercially reported.

Do pro reporters benefit from an open editing portal?

Reporters want byline ownership.
Editors want editorial control
Reporters want intimate/secure relationship with trusted editors.
Editors want scoops.
Reporters want to get paid.

The idea of taking a crummily written Indymedia story polishing it flies in the face of the notion that journalist have of ownership of story, Just editing crappy stories needs to work in the context of an existing framework. This means actually talking to 'establishment independent media.' Needs to be a process heirarchy in order to really work. Heirarchy means deference to standards of news.
Trying out a digest template - this should be the main export for Wikinews, considering the limited resources. The goal for the digest template is to fine tune a page which will be RSS pumped out to sources. The focus of Wikinews should be on the single template, with secondary attention paid to the linked stories. As main backbone for all article development, use up to 100 words each, maybe. We can use some markup to note which stories are at what stage of dev. Consolidate.