Wikinews:Water cooler/policy/archives/2013/April

The Wikinewsie Group
Hi. After consulting with a number of community members, we have started the first step in creating a potential Wikimedia Affiliate group. The details can be found at The Wikinewsie Group. The purpose of the group is:


 * 1) support open license, independent journalistic efforts that provide neutral and verifiable reporting of news stories,
 * 2) support the education of future journalists in trying to insure they maintain historical journalistic ideals regarding reporting standards,
 * 3) support efforts to increase journalist freedom to report around the globe,
 * 4) encourage participation of and facilitate non-professional journalists practicing their craft on Wikinews, and
 * 5) support the mission statement and vision of the Wikimedia Foundation.

This aims to compliment and support existing efforts, and there is zero intention of imposing one language's policies on another language. The project should assist in increasing original reporting, improving original reporting according to local project standards, better supporting our small community and increasing participation.

Please sign up here by listing your name to indicate you support our group. Thanks. --LauraHale (talk) 09:27, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Anonymity in the archive
The author of 2011 interview Wikinews interviews 0 A.D. game development team is requesting their name as interviewer in the article be replaced with "Wikinews". Calling the interviewer Wikinews is best practice. The intro already says "Wikinews interviewed the development team". I'm leaning toward granting the request, but would like a sense of others' views on this.

Thoughts? --Pi zero (talk) 11:49, 6 April 2013 (UTC)


 * I would be okay with this change. I do not think it is historical revisionism and can see it s purely a formatting change to align with best practices in formatting. --LauraHale (talk) 11:51, 6 April 2013 (UTC)


 * I apologize for not have gave more explanations. The interview was prepared collaboratively by members of french Wikinews: it is a collaborative interview. This leads me to my request.--Savant-fou (talk) 12:08, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

The Wikinewsie Group bylaws draft
A copy of the draft bylaws for the The Wikinewsie Group have been posted at The Wikinewsie Group/Bylaws. Alongside these, a Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Journalists have also been posted, which detail our understanding of concepts found in the draft bylaws. Feedback would be appreciated on these. If you agree with them and have no suggestions for modification on one or both documents, please comment on Bylaws talk page or Declaration talk page to say so. Conversely, if you are interested in joining The Wikinewsie Group, please feel free to comment on the relevant talk page with feedback on what changes you might like to see. Thank you. --LauraHale (talk) 04:24, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

MacNeil/Lehrer Journalism
Does WikiNews follow MacNeil/Lehrer journalism? Just wondering. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by XndrK (talk • contribs) 23:58, 12 April 2013‎


 * Our policies come at these issues from a different angle. Of the items on that list, the ones that don't use the word "assume" look fairly sound.  See WN:Never assume.  We don't do opinion or analysis, so that doesn't apply.  We do write for an intelligent audience.  --Pi zero (talk) 16:58, 13 April 2013 (UTC)