Wikinews:Publish checklist

This page is considered a guideline on Wikinews. It is widely accepted among editors and considered a standard that all users should follow. However, it is not cast in stone, should be treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions are expected. Edits should reflect community consensus and best-practice. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut: WN:PC

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Etiquette

This guideline outlines the process for publishing a Wikinews article after it has successfully passed review.

1. Check content

Wikinews articles must comply with Wikinews's policies and guidelines before they can be published. Below is a quick checklist of some of these. An article should meet these before publication. More detailed guides to writing can be found at Wikinews:Content guide and Wikinews:Style guide. There is a much longer checklist at Wikinews:Tips on reviewing articles.

1. The article agrees with Wikinews's content guide and is newsworthy.
2. The article and images used in it are not copyright infringements.
   1. Images have proper copyright information and source information on their image description pages.
   2. Image credit should be appropriately given via use of the {{image source}} template or by other means
3. The article is fully sourced using multiple independent sources.
   1. Articles with original reporting have reporting notes posted to article talk page or e-mailed to other Wikinews contributors to allow some fact-checking and verification of the article contents.
4. The article is written in a neutral and unbiased manner, with no editorial commentary/advocacy or unsourced opinion.
5. The article complies with our style guide (on dateline, grammar and spelling, "inverted pyramid" structure, tone, wikilinks, categories, headline, etc.)

Some of the guidelines (normally style guidelines) may be relaxed for breaking news articles, if a quick publication of the article is considered important.

2. Final Review Check

After completing the review using the gadget EasyPeerReview, ensure the article contains all required article elements in the correct order (sometimes EasyPeerReview places {{publish}} in the middle of the list of sources):

• {{date}} with published date as the only parameter
• Article content
• {{haveyoursay}} with optional question
• Sources section using {{Source}} for each source
  • Add values for archiveurl =, using the the Wayback Machine
    • Chose the archive closest to publication date, preferably from before our publication date (articles are a "snapshot" of what was known at the time of publication)
• {{publish}}
• Categories, to include Category:Published

Ensure the article no longer contains any development markup such as {{verify}} or {{tasks}} or article stage templates such as {{develop}} or {{review}}.

3. Updating the Main Page

Once the article is ready for publication, update the main page with the new article using one of the following tools to perform the "lead shuffle:"

• Wikinews:Make lead (you must manually update all five lead article templates individually with this tool)
• The newer User:Asked42/LeadManager (this tool handles the "lead shuffle" process entirely)

These tools help maintain an up-to-date and organized presentation of news on the main page.

4. Creating a Wikidata Entry

Every published Wikinews article must have its own dedicated Wikidata item. This ensures proper indexing, improves discoverability, and allows for structured associations with related topics.

To create a new Wikidata entry for a Wikinews article, follow these steps:

1. Go to Wikidata and create a new item.
2. Enter the following minimum required data:

• Instance of (P31): Wikinews article
• Title (P1476): The exact title of the article (you will be prompted to select the language; choose English)
• Language of work or name (P407): English
• Publication date (P577): The date the article was published
• Main subject (P921): If the article is about a topic with an existing Wikipedia article (found in the Sister links section), link the Wikinews article to Wikipedia using this property. If no direct Wikipedia article exists, use an appropriate main subject or multiple subjects.

Important Guidelines:

• Do not add a Wikinews article directly to an existing Wikidata item for a Wikipedia article. Each Wikinews article must have a separate Wikidata entry.
• The correct way to associate a Wikinews article with a related Wikipedia article is by using the main subject (P921) property.
• This structured approach maintains clarity and ensures that Wikinews articles remain distinct while still being linked to relevant topics in the Wikimedia ecosystem.

Example: Q132777472

5. Monitor the article for 24 hours

Keep an eye on the article and its talk page for the next 24 hours. Changes are permitted within 24 hours but must also be sighted within those 24 hours, per WN:Archive.