While I think fair use media is more integral to the English Wikipedia's content than you do, I agree with your reasoning. Whether or not we allow fair use, non-commercial media is unjustified.
Can everyone here agree that non-commercial media is not a *substitute* for fair-use media?
teun spaans wrote:
May I disagree with this reasoning?
That the italian law disapproves of fair use makes it only more compelling to find truly free images.
On the Dutch wiki we abolished fair use over a year ago, and it is my wish the english wiki would do so as well: they are basically not free. Forbidding them makes people more anxious to go hunting for them. Or creating them.
Replacing fair use with NC is no real solution. I hear people complaining about the need for air use all the time. There may be a few cases (screenshots of commercial programs, photos of people who died recently) for which no free alternative can be created. But mostly free alternatives can potentially be created.
teun