Welcome to Wikinews

A nice cup of coffee for you while you get started

Getting started as a contributor
How to write an article
  1. Pick something current?
  2. Use two independent sources?
  3. Read your sources before writing the story in your own words?. Do choose a unique title? before you start.
  4. Follow Wikinews' structure? for articles, answering as many of who what when where why and how? as you can; summarised in a short, two- or three-sentence opening paragraph. Once complete, your article must be three or more paragraphs.
  5. If you need help, you can add {{helpme}} to your talkpage, along with a question, or alternatively, just ask?

  • Use this tab to enter your title and get a basic article template.
    [RECOMMENDED. Starts your article through the semi-automated {{develop}}—>{{review}}—>{{publish}} collaboration process.]

 Welcome! Thank you for joining Wikinews; we'd love for you to stick around and get more involved. To help you get started we have an essay that will guide you through the process of writing your first full article. There are many other things you can do on the project, but its lifeblood is new, current, stories written neutrally.
As you get more involved, you will need to look into key project policies and other discussions you can participate in; so, keep this message on this page and refer to the other links in it when you want to learn more, or have any problems.

Wikipedia's puzzle-globe logo, © Wikimedia Foundation
Wikipedia's puzzle-globe logo, © Wikimedia Foundation
  Used to contributing to Wikipedia? See here.
All Wikimedia projects have rules. Here are ours.

Listed here are the official policies of the project, you may be referred to some of them if your early attempts at writing articles don't follow them. Don't let this discourage you, we all had to start somewhere.

The rules and guides laid out here are intended to keep content to high standards and meet certain rules the Wikimedia Foundation applies to all projects. It may seem like a lot to read, but you do not have to go through it all in one sitting, or know them all before you can start contributing.

Remember, you should enjoy contributing to the project. If you're really stuck come chat with the regulars. There's usually someone in chat who will be happy to help, but they may not respond instantly.

The core policies
Places to go, people to meet

Wiki projects work because a sense of community forms around the project. Although writing news is far more individualistic than contributing to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, people often need minor help with things like spelling and copyediting. If a story isn't too old you might be able to expand it, or if it is disputed you may be able to find some more sources and rescue it before it is listed for deletion.

There are always discussions going on about how the site could be improved, and your input is of value. Check the links here to see where you can give input to the running of the Wikinews project.

Find help and get involved
Write your first article for Wikinews!

Use the following box to help you create your first article. Simply type in a title to your story and press "Create page". Then start typing text to your story into the new box that will come up. When you're done, press "save page". That's all there is to it!



It is recommended you read the article guide before starting. Also make sure to check the list of recently created articles to see if your story hasn't already been reported upon.

(since your account apparently predates the automatic welcome. :-) --Pi zero (talk) 23:16, 14 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

Hi. As the article is looking much more formed (I take it you worked out whatever was running the paragraphs together), I've tried to write specific review comments, here. --Pi zero (talk) 00:43, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

Btw, it's a very familiar phenomenon that the first article is the hardest, as one is learning the basics; many successful Wikinewsies actually fail to get their first article published, but take the experience from it to later articles. It's been remarked that our initial learning curve is steep but short. --Pi zero (talk) 00:59, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
Sorry. I feel completely frustrated in my attempts to introduce some balance into the news stories. For the current conflict there are 6 covering events in Gaza, and 0 covering events in Israel. I am disappointed to see this become a soapbox for the Palestinian cause under the guise of neutral and bias free reporting. I am not talking as much about the content of the articles themselves, but the lack of articles covering the conflict in Israel. I have been supporting Wikipedia and its projects since at least 2005 and will not be donating any more money to what I perceive as a statistical bias in the articles. I am sure that if this was not my first time trying to write an article I would have been more successful but I do not have the time to dedicate each day to take it upon myself to make sure news in Israel is being covered. Thanks for your help.Eframgoldberg (talk) 01:03, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
We're a small project (yes we have plans for what needs to happen for us to grow). We can't cover everything, or even nearly everything, just newsworthy stories that one of our contributors felt were worth sharing. It's probably a mistake to read too much significance into the 'overall balance' of our articles, though it does mean something. One prolific contributor, once they've learned the ropes here, can cause very peculiar effects in that 'overall balance' if you try to think of our output that way. For example, we had Australian Wikinewsies at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, and they produced a great deal of OR — original reporting, the most valued sort of Wikinews contribution — about those games. Our coverage was therefore immensely skewed toward that; sometimes it looked nearly as if the Paralympics were the only thing we were covering. --Pi zero (talk) 01:28, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
I actually remember the large number of paralympic posts. I appreciate your time and help, if I choose to relearn wikinews guidelines and continue to write articles I will surely appreciate your criticism and responses. Thank you for your help, regardless of what your personal views are you took the time to outreach and help me and I appreciate that.Eframgoldberg (talk) 02:02, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
I am getting my PhD in Chemistry, and would happy to do some OR when it comes to scientific advances when the time comes.Eframgoldberg (talk) 02:11, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
Sorry I am late to jump in here. But don't be discouraged. I did what I could with the article with what time I had. I wish I could've helped more, but I also work a lot and other stuff in real life takes over sometimes. It can be tough to learn the guidelines and such, but if you have the writing skills in you, after a while it just comes naturally and producing a good, in depth article takes much less time. I speak from experience. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 02:18, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
  • Ah, PhD studies; that explains a great deal about constraints on your time.
I hope the comments of others have better-reassured you that an imbalance in coverage might-well cause some to view Wikinews unfavourably, but that it does not compromise NPoV.
Anyway, I was glad to see the article picked up, and worked on to a degree it ended up published. --Brian McNeil / talk 09:41, 23 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

Article moved to Terror suspects arrested in connection with bombing public bus in Israel, with updates edit

The article you originally started has some pretty serious updates, which I have taken care of. It basically involved a rewrite, but I thought I would let you know I have done my best to get it to review. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 21:46, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

I really appreciate your effort in covering both sides of the story. Sincerest thanks, and I apologize if anything I had said upset you.Eframgoldberg (talk) 22:45, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

I strongly encourage not trying to frame things in terms of "sides" of a story. That only leads to loss of objectivity in news reportage. Different aspects of a story is what you want for thoroughgoing coverage (not that a small outlet, like Wikinews currently is, is well-suited to 'thoroughgoing'; we're better at filling in under-reported stuff). --Pi zero (talk) 23:45, 22 November 2012 (UTC)Reply