Talk:Bush appoints John Bolton United States' ambassador to the United Nations

Original reporting

I watched the televised broadcast of the annoucement live, and took notes. Uncle G 14:20, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

• This is not original reporting. -- Phyzome is Tim McCormack 14:55, August 2, 2005 (UTC)
  • It is, as I am the source. There's no source for me to cite. The information is not second-hand. I watched the people's lips move, heard the words that they spoke, and wrote them down. Original reporting is about who the source is, and is important as a verifiability issue. It is not about the distance between the reporter and the events being witnessed. Uncle G 16:49:40, 2005-08-02 (UTC)
    • There's some choice quotes in there from Senators though. While the President's announcement will have been the same for every reporter, whether you're in the room or watching on the telly (assuming you saw the announcement in full), which quotes from which Senators and others get televised and which do not is an editorial choice made by the primary sources. You might have missed out on things they said before and after the soundbites. Did you ring the other quoted parties up to ask if they had anything to add?

"time of war"

Should you add: "It was not made clear which country the United States is legally at war with, as Al Quada combatants are not (by definition of the U.S. Supreme Court) soldiers." :) Wisty 14:58, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

• I just quoted what he said. Before adding anything like the above, notice that he didn't say specifically that the United States was one of the participants in the war that he alluded to. Uncle G 15:04:56, 2005-08-01 (UTC)

Material from NYT, FOX, and link to WH PR.

I have added a fair amount, including a number of quotes and some background on recess appointments. (Should we work in that this is the 109th Congress? I had that in an earlier version, but trimmed it because that paragraph felt too heavy.)

I'm not sure I like how I edited the Annan and Cornyn quotes. I chopped Annan a bit, and Cornyn was originally broken across two paragraphs, but I tried to keep each source in one paragraph by putting a ham-handed "He continued," between the two sections of the quote. But that implies the two came in that order, and I don't know that FOX didn't flip them around. Am I overthinking this? Anyway, I would appreciate if someone would look at those two quotes before publishing, just to check me.

Also, I think it would be helpful to stick in some general background on Bolton, his C.V., but I couldn't find his bio on the White House web site.

DavidConrad 16:40, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

• Detailed background on John R. Bolton, and on recess appointments, is what what we have Wikipedia, with its lengthy articles on the subjects, and interwiki links for. Unlike most news sources, we have a giant encyclopaedia, conveniently parked right next door, that we can simply and easily link to for background articles and potted biographies. Other news sources, without handy encyclopaedias, have to write their own background articles, and end up writing and repeating individual potted biographies in each new news article. Our way, the biography only ever needs to be written once, at Wikipedia, and Wikinews can thus devote more energy to the provision of primary source material, such as the quotations and records of events that Wikipedia, in turn, relies upon Wikinews for. Uncle G 17:19:01, 2005-08-01 (UTC)
  • Ah, I see. That makes sense. DavidConrad 17:23, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

Wikified Names

I wikified White House, George Voinovich, Harry Reid, Christopher Dodd, Kofi Annan, and John Cornyn. Hope that's OK. DavidConrad 18:33, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

Dictatorship/Kingdom?

Since the U.S.Congress has been logistically castrated; is there a comparable dictatorship or kingdom that can be referred to in this story for a point of reference? Paulrevere2005 22:00, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

It looks like the genius of our forefathers fell a little short on the checks and balances issue. Kevin Baas^talk 03:34, 8 August 2005 (UTC)