[Foundation-l] Wikinews is giving out press credentials

[Jean-Baptiste Soufron]

> How is Wikinews different than this situation?  The problem with 
> Wikinews in this sense is that there are no "leaders" or 
> editors-in-chief who can take the legal arrows, so to say.  In this case 
> I think it would be more the administrators who are maintaining and 
> verifying the credentials of Wikinews reporters who would have the legal 
> liability.
> 
> Not necessarily something pleasant to think about for that matter, and 
> dangerous in a volunteer organization.  Certainly something to 
> discourage you from becoming an admin on Wikinews.  Having the Wikimedia 
> Foundation take the heat instead would help insulate the admins and 
> others on Wikinews but opens up other issues as you have suggested.  The 
> real question then is who has the certifying authority and who has the 
> liability for the problems?  The two go together.
> 
> There is a need for accredited reporters, as there are some news media 
> events that can clearly be covered only by accredited press members.  In 
> the USA in particular, the government has no role in the accreditation 
> process and instead it is from the authority of the news agency they are 
> working for.  This is the real meat of this issue, and to decide on how 
> the accreditation will happen.
> 
> BTW, I was turned down from one media event already where I tried to 
> cover the event as a Wikinews reporter but lacked credentials.  There 
> will be other opportunities in the future, but this is a real situation.

Maybe one solution would be to become some kind of Non-Governemental 
Organisation, or to create local comitees. Anyway, we need to think 
about it !