Thread:Comments:Scottish Justice Secretary 'acutely aware of unusual publicity' in Kular case/UK & Commonwealth tradition v. US laws/reply (3)

Let's hit those questions in-order:

1. Wikinews servers are based in the United States, and the Netherlands.

2. Answering a question with a question: Why should Wikinews publish information that could prejudice the course of a trial?
 * This isn't about the government banning publication, rather a case of allowing the court to do their job. In Scotland a great deal of weight in a trial hangs upon any available eye-witness reports. The widespread publication of the accused photo means someone seeing her taking "what looked like a body" into the wooded area where the body was found is useless. The defence merely needs to ask if such witnesses own a television, or read any newspapers.

3. I think, with this particular article, Wikinews is using its power effectively. By highlighting the significant differences in how courts operate, and what might be considered contempt. The irony here is the mainstream press have made themselves the subject of the report. In the BBC's case, in apparent conflict with their own editorial guidelines.

The Mexican drug cartels is a challenging problem, but very far-removed from being an appropriate analogy here. Dealing with that might-well involve setting up a whistleblowing/anonymous reporting infrastructure. I'd be even-less popular with the WMF if we set up our own mini-Wikileaks. ;-)