Wikinews:Water cooler/policy/archives/2016/August

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Wiki local news / reduction of newspaper staff in the US

Hi, I recently saw a video by Last Week Tonight citing that there has been a reduction of newspaper staff and more of a biased (if the newspaper gets say a rich owner) as newspaper circulation is being reduced. How will Wikinews be able to cite verified sources if the potential for such sources may be in jeopardy in the future? Also, has there been any consideration to starting local news sites? --AllyUnion (talk) 20:40, 10 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@AllyUnion: Alas I don't get HBO, so haven't seen much of Last Week Tonight. I gather he's an ally of journalism, though; the things I have heard made me want to cheer.

We take into account that every source has bias; it's one of the reasons for our two-source rule (although in conventional journalism, the two-source rule is only about verification). Sources with different perspectives are valued; one might have a US or UK source like CNN or BBC, and then also Al Jazeera or Russia Today or the like. Stories about the West Bank should aspire to have both Palestinian and Israeli sources. Etc.
We have been noticing here for the past few years that it's getting harder and harder to find two mutually independent sources for a story; more and more often, one wire service covers a story and everyone buys the rights to use their material.
We also do original reporting, but we strongly recommend writers learn to write synthesis first before moving to the more advanced form of contribution.
Local news stories are allowed on Wikinews. There's some discussion of this at WN:Newsworthiness#Relevance.

--Pi zero (talk) 22:04, 10 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Pi zero: The video I mention is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq2_wSsDwkQ -- I don't know if it is available in your country. (You could use a Proxy to try to view it if it isn't?); In the video, it's mentioned that local reporters in the US aren't available because the staff isn't available anymore... I was trying to think if there was an NPO dedicated to covering local news. --AllyUnion (talk) 09:15, 11 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]