[Foundation-l] Wikinews is giving out press credentials

[Daniel Mayer]

--- Delirium <delirium at hackish.org> wrote:
> Well, Wikinews is a community, and communities can grant whatever 
> invented titles they want to grant. 

For internal purposes, yes. But when those titles are used to gain access to
events the possessor would not otherwise be able to attend in the outside
world, then we must be *very* careful. Oversight is needed. Also needed is
permission to use the marks and logos in that way. This is needed to protect
the foundation and thus everything it supports.

> The term "credential" has no legal meaning in general.
 
It has a very distinct meaning in the news media. It means that an organization
is vouching for an individual.  

> I much dislike these constant gratuitous attempts to grab power from the 
> community, especially through baseless legal threats.

This is not a power grab from the community. I in fact want what the community
is doing to be officially sanctioned but with necessary oversight. Saying that
is a power grab is a baseless accusation and frankly, trolling. 

Again – monikers up to now, such as administrator, only give people authority
to act within our community. Saying somebody is a credentialed journalist is
*very* different since that relates to that person’s interactions with the
outside world. Everything they do in our name is therefore a reflection on all
of us and the foundation. 

-- mav 


	
		
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