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Can a Wikipedia article cite Wikinews as a source? I know we already have those 'Wikinews has an article related to...' infoboxes, but can a Wikinews article actually be cited as a reference in a Wikipedia article?
Cynical
--- David Alexander Russell webmaster@davidarussell.co.uk wrote:
Can a Wikipedia article cite Wikinews as a source? I know we already have those 'Wikinews has an article related to...' infoboxes, but can a Wikinews article actually be cited as a reference in a Wikipedia article?
If the Wikinews piece is a "synthesis article", that is, it draws from other news reports, then we should use those directly and bypass Wikinews.
Wikinews also does original reporting. Can we use those articles? The Wikipedia article on Wikinews says that, "In mainstream media, Wikinews has yet to establish itself as a credible or reliable source of information." (although that has a "citation needed" tag after it). If so, then it's probably best to look for a more reliable (by reputation) source at present.
If we just can't find one, however, then I dunno! Use the guidelines in [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources]], I guess. It would likely depend on the specific topic, the nature of the claim, and the evidence presented at Wikinews itself: in some circumstances, it might be acceptable to cite it directly, in others, to preface it with "according to the free-content news source wiki [[Wikinews]]...", and in others to refuse to use it.
Sorry, that's all a bit "never ask an elf a question, for they will answer both yes and no"-ish. I'm not normally an elf.
-- Matt
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Matt_Crypto Blog: http://cipher-text.blogspot.com
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On 21/09/06, Matt R matt_crypto@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
If we just can't find one, however, then I dunno! Use the guidelines in [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources]], I guess. It would likely depend on the specific topic, the nature of the claim, and the evidence presented at Wikinews itself: in some circumstances, it might be acceptable to cite it directly, in others, to preface it with "according to the free-content news source wiki [[Wikinews]]...", and in others to refuse to use it.
Yeah, it's an editorial judgement call.
I'd be reluctant to myself, for what it's worth. If I didn't have *any* other source for something, I'd be quite unsure about putting it into a Wikipedia article.
This is not to say that Wikinews is particularly *bad* or that e.g. the New York Times is particularly *good*. Hmm.
OTOH, it's just the place to get original photos and so forth.
- d.