User:Jayron32/ITN proposal

Proposed ITN guidelines

Wikipedia's In The News section is designed to provide readers of Wikipedia with quality encyclopedia articles about topics they are seeing in the current news. In The News is not a news ticker, and is not an attempt to present a running, up-to-date list of every newsworthy event as it happens, but is instead a showcase of Wikipedia's content regarding recent events. As such, In The News items generally must meet two criteria:

1. There must be updated content to a Wikipedia article which can be highlighted in a blurb on the main page "In The News" section. The minimum standard for this updated content is:
   • Existing articles must be updated with a minimum of one paragraph of at least five quality sentences of well-referenced content.
   • New articles should have a minimum of three full paragraphs of well-referenced content, and an article should be more developed than "stub" class.
   • There should be no orange or red level tags in the article currently, nor should the article be of such a poor quality as to need them. Articles needn't be of FA or GA quality to be posted to ITN, nor is the occasional "citation needed" tag a major hindrance, but the article as a whole should be well written and free from any glaring errors, copyright violations, or major referencing issues.
2. The content must be prominent in the news. In discussions to decide whether or not to post material, greater weight should be given to arguments supported by actual reliable news sources, rather than mere opinions as to how important the event is to somebody. Whether or not something is "prominent" in the news can be demonstrated by:
   • Depth of coverage, meaning how long the stories are about a topic. Preference should be given to longer stories that cover many details of an event rather than short blurbs that mention the event in passing.
   • Breadth of coverage, meaning how many different sources are covering the topic. Preference should be given to events which are covered by a wide variety of sources rather than just one source, and preference should also be given to the number of unique stories written about a subject rather than merely republished (for example, wire service stories printed in multiple locations)
   • Reach of the coverage. Preference should be given to events which are covered by major national and international publications over those solely covered by local sources. It should be noted that an event needn't be purely international in scope. Many events are more prominent in one country than others, and that generally isn't a reason to oppose a nomination. However, when an event doesn't get covered beyond a locality (a single city or metropolitan area, for example) it is generally not covered in a sufficient manner.
   • Location of the coverage within sources. Preference is given to events which are given "top billing" within major news sources than those stories which are "buried". This includes, but is not limited to, front-page stories in print media, top stories on websites of major news organizations, lead stories on broadcast news, etc. News cycles being as quick as they are, some stories may "roll off" the top billing spots pretty quickly, but in general stories which spent some time as a top-billed story should be given some weight. Certain subsections of major news sources are considered more viable than others for fodder for In The News; for example the "World" section is often considered to be given more weight than stories appearing in the "Hollywood" section of the same source. For stories of a narrow focus, such as science, sports or business, the prominence within science, sports or business sections of major news sources can be considered, along with the prominence of stories within general interest sports and business news sources, such as ESPN or the Wall Street Journal.

Special considerations

Some types of events come up often at ITN. The following principles have usually held in the past when deciding to post or not post a nominated event. It should be noted that this list is meant to be demonstrative and not exhaustive, the fact that some category of events is not covered here is not meant to mean that it isn't worthy of making the main page ITN section, as always the ability to demonstrate the prominence within news sources is important.

Common topics which usually make ITN

At one time, there was a list of specific events (WP:ITN/R) which were deemed to be "automatically" notable, and thus were supposed to be posted with minimal discussion once the articles were sufficiently updated. However, over time the utility of such a list proved minimal: ITN/R events tended to get debated just as much, if not more, than events which weren't on the list. Furthermore, the inclusion, or exclusion, of an item on the ITN/R list proved to be itself controversial. As such, the ITN/R list was deprecated. Still, over time, there have been certain events which generally always garner enough support to make the In The News section, pursuant to a sufficient update:

• Major national elections and international elections: such as Presidential elections in nations with a strong Presidential executive, or Parliamentary elections in countries with a parliamentary system. In general, each country should have an ITN-worthy article for its most prominent national election.
• Changes of hereditary heads-of-state for those countries that have them. The death or abdication of a national monarch is usually deemed notable enough for ITN inclusion.
• The results of major sporting events, such as major championships in popular national and international leagues, or major international sporting events such as The Olympics. The popularity of sports varies greatly from country to country, so sports considered very popular and which receive a lot of in-depth coverage in one country may be unheard-of in other countries. For that reason, it is rarely helpful to support or oppose such nominations based on how well you follow a sport, or whether the sport is one you've never followed or heard of. Instead, weight should be given to arguments that present evidence, in the support of quality coverage in major news sources, to show that the event is considered a major sporting event with wide appeal, and which receives ample coverage. Preference is given to coverage in general sports sources, such as ESPN, or to sports sections from major national and international news sources, over sources which cover a single sport exclusively. In general, it is very rare that a non-championship event is considered notable enough for ITN coverage (though it is not impossible); events such as routine, regular season matches usually don't make the main page. Furthermore, for sporting events, the minimum update is generally considered to be a prose summary covering the important moments from the entire event. Articles consisting solely of tables and charts tabulating the results of the event are usually considered insufficient for posting, regardless of the notability of the event.
• Major awards generally considered to recognize the best in their field, worldwide. Awards which only have a national or local scope are generally not recognized as notable enough for the main page. This includes, but is not limited to, awards such as the Nobel Prizes, Academy Awards, the Pritzker Architecture Prize, etc, and awards on the same level as those for their particular field. Similar to sporting events, a prose summary covering the results of the awards is generally required, for individual awards such as individual Nobel prizes, it is generally required that coverage of the work which earned the prize be prominent in the article. For multiple-awards events, such as the Academy Awards, prose updates are usually required, and a mere table or chart of winners is considered insufficient.

Common topics that usually don't make ITN

It has been almost universally agreed that the following events are usually not notable enough for ITN:

• Run of the mill celebrity gossip, such as the relationships of celebrities, their major life events, their run-ins with the law, etc. are generally not considered typical fodder for ITN.
• The release of new products or media, such as new versions of popular electronics, new releases from major recording artists, new films with popular actors, etc. as well as sales of same.
• Speeches by politicians or political candidates about events of the day.
• The winners of reality shows, game shows, lotteries, or contests.

Common topics that sometimes make ITN and sometimes do not

Some topics come up frequently at ITN for debate, and often result in contentious discussions. Whether or not these events get posted is often contentious, though many of these events do sometimes make ITN.

• Major weather events and natural disasters often come up for discussion at ITN. There are no minimum standards for the level of death and destruction a natural disaster needs to have wrought before it becomes notable enough for ITN, nor is there any minimum "intensity" for such events, however it is generally expected that such events should have a major human impact. Events are rarely posted based purely on the intensity of the event (for example, the magnitude of an earthquake or the class of a hurricane is rarely taken into account when decisions are made to post or not) Demonstration, by reference to reliable news sources, of some, if not all, of these generally helps when deciding to post such an event:
  • Significant loss of life
  • Significant property damage
  • Disruption to daily activities, such as travel or electrical service
• Industrial accidents, transportation accidents, and other man-made disasters also come up for discussion. Again, there are no minimum standards for what is "bad enough" for ITN, so it is often helpful to demonstrate ITN worthiness by the depth and quality of the Wikipedia article covering it, and by the prominence in news sources.
• Crime and/or legal proceedings: Run-of-the-mill crimes and lawsuits rarely make ITN, however some events are transcendent and are prominently covered by news sources or have a reach far beyond the principals involved in the case. It has sometimes been the case that the results of trials of major war criminals, disgraced heads of state, leaders of terrorist organizations, and lawsuits which result in record damages being awarded can make ITN, but there are no overwhelming principles involved, so special attention must be given to prominence of the case in news sources.
• Deaths of major figures: Discussions surrounding the deaths are often contentious, though the advent of the Recent deaths ticker has in some ways lowered the bar some for death discussions, and in some ways raised it. Since the recent deaths ticker has been instituted, the standards for posting the death of a major figure on the ticker is generally lower than it used to be to get such a posting as a regular ITN blurb. Conversely, since the ticker has been instituted, it is generally much harder to get a blurb about a death posted. Generally, a blurb is reserved for deaths of major international figures, such as current heads of state, transcendent celebrities, and special favor for blurbs is given to deaths which come unexpectedly or which result from otherwise newsworthy events, such as assassinations or accidents. It is rare for a full blurb to be posted for people who die at an advanced age, of health issues typically associated with being old, regardless of how important the figure may have been, though since the advent of the recent deaths ticker, many of those figures often end up there.
• Major business deals, scientific advances, and other topics of a narrow interest sometimes come up for discussion. On the one hand, articles such as these are often considered a "minority topic" and may have a lower bar for notability based on the desire to see ITN feature a variety of topics. On the other hand, because such topics are of such a narrow interest, it can be more difficult to find coverage in reliable sources which cover them. As always, it helps a lot to show how such topics are covered, and special attention may be given for topics which have a very high quality Wikipedia article to highlight in a blurb.