Wikinews:Research Desk

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Wikinews Research Desk
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Research Desk is a list of useful links to get quotes, press release info, data or inspiration from.

Questions to kickstart your thought process:

  • Press releases... Why do they think it is important the public knows? How have people responded?
  • Who died and left you to write about it? → The first is a good question; the answer to the second is: we did.
  • What were the top grossing films last month? Did the takings run-counter to serious reviews? → BoxOffice Mojo
  • Did a million people cry out, sign a petition, and then there was silence?
  • What are the headlines about the presidential election? (Hint: other countries have presidents too.)
  • What is the latest on climate change?
  • Do British, American and Canadian public health advisories differ in opinion? What, if anything, has replaced COVID-19 as a major threat?
  • What are people protesting, where, and why?
  • Who is Interpol looking for, and what did they do?


Have a story? Stuck for ideas?

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Government statistics (selected countries)

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Locations chosen by availability in English


Secondary sources

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Processed news material which went through an editorial process.

Global coverage

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Primary sources

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Press releases or organization-sponsored news. Might be considered PR, can be used for data, quotes and for an official take on the matter. Usually lacks context.

Court cases

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Find any court case with CRN numbers on e-Court services.

An example: searching a case handled by the Meghalaya High Court's SR Sen.

  1. Go to their official website.
  2. Under Services, click "Judgements".
  3. Click on "Judge wise" under "Case Orders".
  4. Select the name of the judge from drop-down.

This may prove helpful to get the complete hearing of the case, unlike how the Indian MSM trims the case study. Add a link to the original hearing as external link, or use it as a source.



Economy and business

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See also: Category:Economy and business

International organizations data

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Government business/economic resources

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News media

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Markets

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Industries

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Military, Defense and War

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Media, culture and entertainment

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See also: Category:Culture and entertainment

Music

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See also: Category:Music
See also: Category:Art
  • Artnet news, including art market trends, upcoming events, international
  • The Art Newspaper includes the drama and intrigue of the art scene

Film

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See also: Category:Film

Journalism and media

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See also: Category:Media

Theatre

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See also: Category:Theatre

Books

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See also: Category:Literature

Fashion

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See also: Category:New York Fashion Week

Television

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See also: Category:Television



Major Global Cities: Press Releases

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See also: Category:London
See also: Category:New York, New York
See also: Category:Washington, D.C.
See also: Category:Sydney
See also: Category:Dublin
See also: Category:Los Angeles, California



Journals and Scholarship

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  • Google Scholar, which indexes the full text of scholarly research journals
  • CiteSeer public search engine and digital library for scientific and academic papers.



Deaths, Medical and Health

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See also: Category:Health

Australia

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Canada

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  • Health Canada, government site with advisories, warnings and recalls.

United Kingdom

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United States

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International

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  • Latest Avian Flu News from the WHO
  • World Health Organization Country Statistics
  • Health Square.com information on Prescription Drug Indications, Dosage, Warnings and Possible Interactions; Color Pill Images; Patient Information Pamphlets, outlining what to expect when dealing with various conditions, required tests and treatments; and detailed information and color illustrations regarding the diagnosis, cause and treatment of most major health problems.

Obituaries

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See also: Category:Obituaries



See also: Category:Science and technology



Protests and media releases

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  • Eworldwire, a site that presents and disseminates news and video the article subject's want you to know, from their perspective but uses due diligence and other verification methods.
  • Protest.net, a global site listing information about protest events and locations.
  • PR Newswire, a site that presents news the article subject's want you to know, from their perspective



Advocacy groups and activists

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Wikimedia Research and Tools

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See also: Category:Wikimedia Foundation



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See also: Category:Crime and law

United States

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European Union

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Professionalism

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See also: Wikinews:Code of Ethics
  • www.iapcworld.org International Association of Press Clubs - join your local. They are often not expensive, and can assist with knowledge and helping you gain access to police press passes, events, et. al. It is also another credential.
  • Reporters Without Borders - Online press freedom organization; has an interesting Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents.
  • Freedom House Global Press Freedom 2007: Threats to Media Independence

Your rights as a reporter and photographer

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Australia

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New Zealand

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United Kingdom

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United States

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Writing help

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Language Translation Services

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After You Research Your Article: Images
Wikinews Picture of the Year 2007: A good image in a news article will relate instantly to the viewer as many important elements of the topic as possible.
See also: Wikinews:Image use policy

You need images for your articles

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Images, such as the one in the opening paragraph courtesy of the French Wikinews, or the current English Wikinews Picture of the Year, are as important as the text. When an image is present in a story, no matter how good the prose the image can make or break a reader's impression. A good Wikinews reporter will contemplate aspects of their story, and find free media (or fair use) to illustrate their story. For instance, on Wikipedia there is an article about Mark Barnes, a notable attorney some readers might find uninteresting. But on that page you can see how media can be used to make a subject dynamic; for instance, a letter written by the subject's students and a portrait of his ancestor, Daniel Boone, are incorporated. Look for the interesting, relevant angle when you choose media.

Where to find images

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Wikimedia Commons

Your first stop for stock photos. The easiest way of finding freely licensed images is to search the Wikimedia Commons project. All images on Commons are freely licensed and can be used in articles as if they are hosted locally.

Wikipedia as a photo Sherpa

Another option is to look at any relevant Wikipedia articles and see if any appropriate images are available there but note that not all images on Wikipedia are freely licensed and if that is the case then their use here must also comply with fair use. In theory Wikipedia editors have come to consensus as to the best photos to illustrate a topic, although the surest judgment is to search the Commons. Still, Wikipedia, or another Wikimedia Foundation project, may be organized in a manner that makes it easy to find a good stock photo for a news article you can freely use.

If a freely licensed image still cannot be located then it may be possible to find one on an external website which you can upload to Commons. It is important that it is explicitly stated that the image is released under a compatible licence, see Commons:Licensing for information.

There are likely to be exceptions but the websites listed below are known to host some freely licensed image files. If after searching a freely licensed image cannot be located then consider asking a photographer to release an image under a compatible licence, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for advice on doing this.

If all else fails, try theses sites for free media
  • Flickr, note that only the Attribution (CC-BY) and the Attribution ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) licences are permitted
  • National Archives, it may take some hunting, but it's all free
  • NASA Images all free, space, sun, moons, stars
  • US Government archive of free photos; seems like a lot on offer of random things few people need. But worth a look.
  • Library of Congress Memory project. Very historical. Unless Alexander Graham Bell fits in your story, may have trouble with modern topics.
  • yotophoto like google images, but for free photos (be warned their definition of free sometimes differs from wikimedia's)