Wikinews:Image use policy

This is an official policy on English Wikinews. It has wide acceptance and is considered a standard for all users to follow. Changes to this page must reflect consensus. If in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.
Shortcut:
WN:IUP

Policies and Guidelines

Neutral point of view
Content guide
Style guide

Ignore all rules

Administrators

For Wikipedians

Etiquette


This policy is meant to apply to images only, but may at a future date extend to other media accepted by the upload process.

Free images

Images which meet the Definition of Free Cultural Works (see the specific licenses meeting this standard) should be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository shared by all projects.

Fair use images

Images can be accepted locally if they fall under the fair use defense. Since Wikinews is a news organization, the fair use defense would not apply to images from other news web sites or blogs.

Under this clause, the following image types may be uploaded to the English Wikinews:

  • logos
  • publicity photos
  • covers of books and electronic media
  • some screenshots

Specifically, images that are part of "press kits" or are otherwise made available for press use can be uploaded locally.

Wikinews has a general policy on fair use which governs this issue.

Grants of license

Wikinews may be granted an explicit license to use particular images, even if the image remains under the copyright. The uploaded image must have the name of the copyright holder in the description. The description may also contain the name of the user who arranged the license grant. If Wikinews was granted a license in situ — in a statement on the copyright holder's website, for example — the grant statement should be included instead.

Images with license grants may be subject to certain requirements. This may include their use in derivative works, or requirements of attribution. These restrictions must be clearly noted in the image description. Images with attribution must be attributed in every article where they are used.

Images with a grant of license must be uploaded to Wikinews locally, and not to the Wikimedia Commons. They should have either {{pgol|url of copyright statement}} or {{gol image}} on the image description page as well.