From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of steve v
--- Nathan Reed nathanreed@gmail.com wrote:
We've had this discussion quite a bit on Wikinews -- accreditation does you little good unless a press pass is also issued by whatever event/organization/governmental agency you wish to cover. Some have discussed a meta press corps -- would the bar be higher
there than on
Wikinews? Our concept of an accredited wikinewsie is still citizen journalist. This is a radical concept, of course, and I'm
not sure the
world is ready to deal with it. -N.
A news organization, by definition, is an organized newsgathering entity with some degree of accountability. Press passes offer people some degree of authority and access, and likewise suggest that individuals have demonstrated professional credentials.
Just throwing this out there: I dont see how any anti-credentialist organization can be in the business of giving out credentials.
In the same wiki-way that everything else works here. The community decides who, based on their contributions, is able to present a professional face to the real world and a useful contribution to Wikipedia/WikiNews. I use "professional" here in the sense of "adhering to industry standards", rather than "being paid for".
I don't know how it is in other countries, but in Australia journalists aren't licensed. Anyone can be a journalist. Freelancers are common.
As noted previously, Wikipedia is gaining a certain measure of respect and exposure in the general community. We don't need to sell our encyclopaedic credentials, just our audience. Nobody considers tabloid newspapers to hold to high standards of journalistic integrity, but they command wide readerships, and their journalists find little difficulty in gaining access to events. All we really need do is say "Google such-and such a subject" and Wikipedia is generally in the first ten entries, so we've got that sort of leverage to use with people who are after media exposure.
And realistically, it's a win-win situation. We get information and (most importantly) free-use photographs, and the organisation or event gets web exposure that they just can't buy.
Peter (Skyring)