Wikinews:Gatwicking

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.

This is an essay, recommended rather than official policy; it may be useful to assist in the practical application of policy.

Occasionally, a mostly-sound article will go {{stale}} before it can be published, either due to limitations in review labour or due to required improvements taking up more time than the article will remain fresh for. It is possible to save some of these articles, making maximum use of the effort already put into them, by a process of refocusing them to be about a newer event on the same broader story. This process is sometimes referred to informally as 'Gatwicking' the article, a phrase that initiated on IRC during work to rescue an article about Gatwick Airport in this way.

That article was ultimately published as Police warn new drone owners to obey law after disruption at UK's Gatwick Airport; before the work to refocus it began, it was a shorter piece about an earlier event. (Note, the current title was selected subsequently to the linked-to old version. The new title still displays there because of how the software handles such things.) Although it was both expanded to include newer information and given a new focus, all of the existing work was usefully preserved to provide core background.

When and how to Gatwick

Gatwicking an article can be very valuable in cases where an article is, largely, ready to go but has missed its window of opportunity. It results in a much stronger article due to being able to draw on existing work to strengthen it.

In order to Gatwick the article, first one must look for updates on the story and choose a more recent focal point that restores newsworthiness. In the Gatwick example, an article about drones causing chaos at the airport was given a new focus on a subsequent warning by police that drone operators should beware the consequences of unlawful misuse of their equipment. Once a new focal event has been found, move the article to a new headline, and rewrite the lede to match. Remember to provide sources for all the new material! A refocused synthesis article should have two mutually independent trust-worthy sources for the new focus.

Thereafter, all you have to do is add in details of new developments to suit the new focus. As mentioned, the original work becomes the background that puts this new development in its proper context. If there were issues with the previous version that prevented its publication, make sure those are fixed in your new version. Once you think you've got a solid piece that is once again ready to go, it's time to sit back and add the {{review}} template just like any other article. Good luck!