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This is an essay on using and contributing to Wikinews. The contents are strongly recommended practices, but may not be enforced official policy; however, they may supplement, comment upon, or offer guidance to interpreting official policy. Links to official policies can be found in the Wikinews introduction.
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| This is an essay, recommended rather than official policy; it may be useful to assist in the practical application of policy. |
- Read style guide and content guide and any relevant linked information. Once when you begin, and revisit it each time you are writing a new story.
- Time*: 10-20 minutes
- Difficulty: easy
*Estimated (approximate) time, may vary with individuals. Only serves as an guide and not as a recommendation or a requirement!
- Learn to write accurately, truthfully and without bias. The purpose of news reporting is to be neutral and to provide as much relevant fresh information to as wide audience as possible. (What Wikinews is not; neutral point of view are what differentiates Wikinews from majority of mainstream media.)
- Be inquisitive and curious. Love fresh details relevant to the critical questions of who, what, when, where, why, how. Anything of that missing - dig it from under ground and pull it into the story. (Otherwise nobody would know about it, which defeats the purpose of news reporting.)
- Time: 5-10 minutes
- Difficulty: medium
- Edit articles in the newsroom. For two reasons: to help others' stories get through, and to learn about common problems and how to best overcome them. Start with the ones which are more fresh and whose topic is more familiar.
- Time: 1-10 minutes
- Difficulty: medium
- Write new articles in your strong topic area. Then others will know about what happened. Woo.
- Time: 20-40 minutes
- Difficulty: medium
- After submitting an article, watch it and its talk page. Look for new talk page messages. (Atm, that's best done by refreshing these pages in your web browser. E-mail notifications may also be enabled here.)
- Time: recurring
- Difficulty: easy
- When a question is asked, or a reviewer comment is added, react quickly, and address it in full (do not forget to re-submit for {{review}} once that's done). Doing otherwise is an inefficient use of time, resulting in not publishing and not reaching the audience.
- Time: 10-20 minutes
- Difficulty: medium
- Ask questions. When you have a question, ask it straight away. Don't get stuck on a problem. News writing does not allow being stuck.
- Time: 1-2 minutes
- Difficulty: easy
