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Wikinews:Content guide
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!
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This guide does not tell you how to write an article - for that see Wikinews:Writing an article - but what can or cannot be in an article, and what must be in an article.
This article is part of the
Wikinews Policies and guidelines
Neutral Point of View
Policies and guidelines
Content guide
Style guide
Three revert rule
Cite sources
Original reporting
Accration policy
Deletion guidelines
Copyright
Fair use
Image use policy
Naming conventions
Username guidelines
Page protection policy
User blocking policy
Etiquette
Contents
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Write news articles
Unlike Wikipedia, Wikinews is a site with stories that chronicle the events when they happen. If something changes, don't an old article to update it: write a new one, and link to the old one for reference. Only fix old articles that don't follow current style or content guidelines. 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.
Before starting your first Wikinews story, you may want to familiarize yourself with what Wikinews is not.
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What is 'news'?
Wikinews is for writing news stories, like those you read in the newspaper, or see on the television news.
News stories focus on a single current event or phenomenon. If developments to an on-going event or issue occur, start a new story, don't an old one.
News is factual. Opinions should be sourced from qualified sources, and the fact that those people express those opinions becomes 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. They should also be the most important relevant such source you can get, eg on law enforcement policy, the Commissioner of Police is better than a Police Constable. Comments from 'ordinary' sources with an interest is also useful, but only against the context of what the 'important' sources said.
Articles must be written from a neutral point of view. News is reported in a unbiased way, and should not vilify or defame.
News is relevant. Being Wikinews — global and internet-based — stories about local news may need to have their relevance explained for our international audience. Stories should appeal to a large number of people.
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Research your story
Use some of the news sources listed in the Wikinews:Reference desk and find background supporting information via search engines like http://www.google.com and http://www.yahoo.com to flesh out your writing. Remember: Save the web addresses to the sites you used, you will need them to cite your sources so other ors can see that you work is based upon facts.
You must quote your sources using the "sources" template, see Wikinews:Writing an article.
If you want to obtain material which is not published elsewhere, or to create new first-hand material yourself, please refer to the Original reporting guide.
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Cite your sources
It is of utmost importance that we cite sources for any factual claim we make -- either in reputable online and offline media, or our own original reporting. Try to track down the first source that makes a particular claim. See Wikinews:Style guide for citation style.
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Original reporting
Wikinews allows original reports if they are attributed to identifiable sources. For now, anonymous reporting is not allowed. Please see Wikinews:Original reporting for ideas regarding the process.
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Wikinews does not want to infringe copyright or other licenses or laws
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.
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See also
Retrieved from "http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Content_guide"
Categories: Wikinews
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