[Foundation-l] Murdoch newspaper websites to go paywall -opportunity for citizen journalism!

[Nathan]

All of the questions enumerated by Lars are exactly on point - and
ultimately, I wonder if there is an answer in there that will allow Wikinews
to be widely useful. It may be that there isn't, for now, and that it won't
be broadly useful as a news source until the dynamics of the online news
business changes.

I say useful as a news source because it seems like there may be other
positive uses for Wikinews as a project. Our focus with all projects is
generating (or collecting) free content in a reusable and easily accessible
format - but that doesn't have to be the limit, and over time the Foundation
is branching into other niches where we can have a beneficial educational
impact outside of our now "traditional" role.

There is, for instance, much discussion in the news world about the future
of journalism[1] and specifically investigative reporting and the role of
reportage in democracy. Wikinews may not be able to play a significant role
in developing the future of journalism as a source for news, but I could see
it being a significant player as an alternative method of training
journalists and as a way to give new journalists experience and exposure in
an era of shrinking newsroom budgets. Perhaps the best role for Wikinews in
the Wikimedia movement is not in its reporting, per se, but in generating
experienced journalists and developing the news field for a post-newspaper
future.

Nathan


[1] As a good example, see Frank Rich's column in the New York Times, "The
American Press on Suicide Watch",
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/opinion/10rich.html