User:Simeon.A.Scott/Wikinews:Content guide

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This page documents what criteria Wikinews articles should fullfil. Please help us to observe these criteria in all articles, whether you wrote them, or someone else did. For introductory information on working on Wikinews articles, see Wikinews:Workspace and the pages recommended there.

Checklist[edit]

Article here should comply with the following stipulations, which are treated in more detail under subsections below this list.

Wikinews articles should be[edit]

  1. News
  2. Collaborative
  3. Balanced
  4. Factual
  5. Referenced
  6. Written for a global audience

Wikinews articles should not[edit]

  1. Defame or prejudice
  2. Degrade, incite violence, racism, sexism, nationalism
  3. Promote a self-interest of the wikinews contributor
  4. Infringe copyright or other licenses or laws such as official secrets acts etc, unless legal protection is provided due to a public need to know

Wikinews wants News articles[edit]

Wikinews is for writing news stories, like those you read in the newspaper, or see on the television news.

News is new, and interesting to many people. News stories focus on a single current event or phenomenon.

Items of interest often include

  • controversy or conflict
  • novelty or innovation (both words simply mean 'newness', by the way)
  • things or people important to many
  • events which seem as if they will be an important influence on future events

Following a developing story[edit]

Don't try to follow the developing story by updating an existing article — write a new one.

Unlike Wikipedia, Wikinews is a site with stories that chronicle the events when they happen.

If you deem a topic very important — or if it keeps reappearing in the news — make an "In depth" page about it and link all the related articles.

Changing old articles[edit]

Changes to old articles which are desireable are fixing of typos, style or content problems; adding of further background information if the story doesn't explain its context well; or providing balance with information from the same point in time as the story, since often this cannot be found quickly enough to make the first publication of the article.

Wikinews wants articles written collaboratively[edit]

The whole point of Wikinews is to provide a collaborative environment where anyone who can write, can help write great news stories! Therefore articles cannot be written from a single or restricted point of view. We aim for Neutral Point of View (NPOV).

Please expect multiple contributors to each article, and be willing to work with others to incorporate their suggestions, although this does not always happen quickly or without pain. Also try to understand others suggestions, there may be valid reasons why your own contribution doesn't belong in a given article.

Write in a way that makes it clear to others where you are up to, and that leaves the article as close as possible to 'closed' at the end of any edit you make. Comment your changes appropriately, and use the Wikinews:Article flags.

Wikinews wants balanced articles[edit]

Like Wikipedia, and all worthy news publications, Wikinews aims to provide balanced coverage, and a fair hearing for all sides of any argument. In practice, it can be difficult to source information from all sides, especially as a news article is breaking, but please do your best.

Remember that Wikinews allows anyone to work on any article. This generally helps to develop NPOV. It also lets you off the hook somewhat, if you fail to provide balance due to lack of knowledge or time, but it is suggested that if this is the case, please use Wikinews:Article flags to warn readers that the article is not really finished, and to request other users to balance the article.

Wikinews wants factual articles[edit]

News is factual. Check facts for accuracy before you write them up. Be careful that you are not making assumptions, either about the facts, or about the reader's knowledge. If you are careful to write accurately, and attribute all your statements, then you will not have too many problems with this.

Opinions should be sourced from 'qualified sources', and the fact that those people express those opinions is the fact that is reported.

A qualified source is an organisation or someone who is taken seriously by the general public when commenting on a particular area of expertise.

Only report the most relevent, and important opinions expressed about the matter, from the most relevent, important sources, eg on law enforcement policy, the Commissioner of Police is better than a Police Constable.

Comment from 'ordinary' sources with an interest is also useful, but only against the context of what the 'important' sources said, or if the news event has wide-reaching consequences, and you source a number of such opinions.

Generally do not 'give airtime' to people who are pushing opinions that are overstated or of doubtful relevence in the context of the event you are reporting. Sometimes those people are news, because they have already given this opinion to many people, and it has an effect, but often they are hoping that you will spread their message for them.

Wikinews wants referenced articles[edit]

Please state at the end of each article references for all your source material, using the {{source}} template, see Wikinews:Style guide for more information on how to cite sources.

Reference all facts that are not common knowledge to any graduate of highschool.

Try to use as source reputable online media, offline if necessary, or original reporting in Wikinews.

Try to track down the first source that makes a particular claim.

Attribute all quotes or statements to people, and for ones that are probably from exlusive interviews, mention the name of the publication where they are from. Complex articles with many sources may need more detailed referencing, you can use inline references.

Original reporting[edit]

Wikinews allows original reports if they are attributed to identifiable sources. For now, anonymous reporting is not allowed. Please see Wikinews:Original reporting for tips on writing material for Wikinews using interviews you conduct yourself, or your own eyewitness accounts.

Wikinews wants articles written for a global audience[edit]

Remember that anyone in the world could be reading your article. Please make sure to provide context for any information that may be specific to the location of the news story.

Make sure not to assume that people reading have the same opinion, or outlook, as you. They may not speak English as a first language, so aim to write for about an early high-school level of reading, and explain or link to Wikipedia or Wiktionary to explain any complex ideas.

Wikinews does not want defamation or degrading opinions[edit]

Definitely do not defame or degrade. Do not prejudice any court case. Anything published on the internet may be considered 'published in' other countries, and those countries may have different laws to where you live, so be careful — you could still get yourself into trouble even if you can argue the case locally.

Following this should not be too difficult if you stick carefully to the ideas of NPOV, global audience, attribution and referencing so mar mentioned .. but in fact it is. Writing about news without defaming can be quite tricky due to the subtle ways that courts interpret your words.

A start is to make sure that what you write about someone is true. This is not a defence by itself everywhere, and as we have seen, you need to be able to defend your writings everywhere.

As well as truth, you need to show that your writing is in the public interest.

You must also write carefully, and without malice.

The fact that you are reporting what someone else said, in the case of reporting a quote, is not an excuse, so be careful not to repeat a defamation made by someone else.

Note that even if someone claims to be guilty of an offence, you should not then assume they are right. Always assume innocence until a court of law hands down a guilty verdict.

If in doubt, leave out all identifying information about the people you are writing about, if you think the story needs to be told, and might be defamatory. Don't identify juveniles (generally people under the age of 18) who are charged with an offence, and in most cases even if found guilty their identity should be protected.

Some resources, since this is quite a complex issue, are

Wikinews does not want to degrade, or incite violence, racism, sexism, or nationalism[edit]

What it says. Again, laws in many countries can be used against Wikinews or its contributors, and we generally like to be polite to each other and our readers.

Avoid obscenity that is not strictly necessary to tell the story, and then. Remember that our readership is not limited to any particular group or class, and we do not want to offend some subset of readers.

Be careful that your own prejudices don't lead you to report in a way that others may interpret as prejudiced. Go back to 'never assume'.

Nationalism is not generally illegal, but people often find it offensive, especially if they are not members of the particular nation. Since Wikinews is global in outlook and in readership, do your best to avoid nationalistic views, or to correctly attribute them and provide balancing comments from people of contrary views.

Wikinews does not want to promote self-interests of the wikinews contributors[edit]

Generally, don't write about something that you have a direct interest in, where you or someone close to you might gain or lose from the outcome, or from publicity. If you do have an interest in something where you might gain or lose, then see if you can find someone else to write about it, and they may decide to use you as a source.

Wikinews does not want to infringe copyright or other licenses or laws[edit]

Again, legal requirements as well as politeness and good relations demand that we police Wikinews and write without infringing licenses, copyrights, laws of secrecy and so on.

Follow the guide above to referencing and attributing and you are well on your way.

News reporting is protected in many countries as an important right that balances, to some degree, intellectual property laws such as copyright. You may even be forgiven by some if you report official secrets, though. The key is to only include as much as is necessary to tell the news, to attribute your source, and to only do so if there is a public benefit.

If in doubt, leave it out. There are often alternative sources for material if you can't get permission.

Some resources on this topic appear below.

See also[edit]

  • Wikinews Article flags for use when an article needs editorial attention
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