Wikinews talk:To-Do List

Obituaries
If you're feeling morbid, why not write an obituary for someone who's not actually dead yet?


 * Say what?!? - how does that help?
 * The idea is that everyone will die eventually, so we'll have the story ready in prep. (Personally though I'm not sure this is exactly the best thing to have on this list). Bawolff ☺☻ 03:51, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually on an episode of CSI: Miami a guy is killed while talking to a reporter on the phone who is trying to prepare his obituary without him knowing of course, for when he does die. Dosen't seem to far fetched for me that major news places have premade obituaries kept up-to-date for famous people.-Ryan524 (talk) 03:55, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * It is, in fact, extremely common, for news agencies to have pre-prepared obituaries for major figures, and I believe they're mostly done during quieter times. One of the episodes of Frontline (Australian TV series) (a satire set in the office of a current affairs show) has such a preparation as a running gag. It's something we haven't done as much of here, but it is one of those things that you can do that isn't about super-fast, breaking news, get-it-published-while-it's-still-newsworthy article writing which is why I put it here. Priorities would obviously be people who are more likely to die in the near future (octogenarians and above, those known to have various life-threatening illnesses) and people whose deaths will cause the greatest stirs (and hence we'd like to have as lead article as soon as possible). Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 05:30, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I was actually the one who commented "how does that help". It was a bit late and I wasn't up to my usual cognitive skills and forgot to sign. While I realize that most reputable newspapers prepare obits, what I meant to comment was that in my time at Wikinews we have never used one of our prepared obits. We have them for a great number of people, but whenever one of them actually dies, someone always starts a new article without consulting the prepared obits. That is why I say, "how does it help?" While this will likely not be the definitive example, I have added to Story preparation/Senator Ted Kennedy dies at age XX, to make it closer to a useful article in the event of Kennedy's death. Time will have to show if this prep gets used when he eventually does die, or if someone starts a new article. Cheers, --SVTCobra 23:49, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
 * In which case, good point. Do you know of a case where we've had a prepared obit that wasn't used? Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 04:55, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Where are the commits? CoachZeeeee (talk) 10:51, 7 November 2021 (UTC)