User:Thryduulf/WPITN reorganisation
 | This is a work in progress for a suggested reorganisation of the Wikipedia:In the news page. It is not complete and at any given time may be change without warning. It is not a proposal at this time. |
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The In the news (ITN) section on the main page serves to direct readers to articles that have been substantially updated to reflect recent or current events of wide interest. ITN supports the central purpose of Wikipedia—making a great encyclopedia.
Unlike Wikipedia's sister project Wikinews, Wikipedia is not an online newspaper and does not accept original works of journalism or first-hand reports. However, many Wikipedians are motivated to create and update encyclopedic articles of timely interest. ITN originated in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, when entries were created and put on the main page within minutes of the attacks. The entries led to an infusion of interest by editors in creating a main page section that linked to articles providing readers the context behind the news.
Events posted on ITN are listed in approximately chronological order, with the more recent entries appearing first. They are generally not sorted by any degree of importance or significance.
Purpose
- To help readers find and quickly access content they are likely to be searching for because an item is in the news.
- To showcase quality Wikipedia content on current events.
- To point readers to subjects they might not have been looking for but nonetheless may interest them.
- To emphasize Wikipedia as a dynamic resource.
Organisation
- Blurbs
- Most In The News postings come in the form of blurbs. A blurb is a short explanation of the importance of the story in the news, with a specific article we are highlighting to direct readers to to learn more information. Blurbs are posted in rough chronological order by the date when the event occurred. There is usually no effort made to be more specific than the date, and admins will generally not research the exact minute when an event occurred to make sure that multiple events that occurred on the same date are strictly in order. Please do not request that events be re-ordered unless the date itself is wrong. The number of blurbs varies from time to time, depending on the length of each individual blurb and the relative lengths of other sections on the main page. The goal is to avoid excessive white space, especially between the right and left columns, and older blurbs may be periodically removed or added to achieve this. There is no maximum or minimum time a blurb stays on the template for - this is normally determined by the number and length of newer blurbs, although in some cases items are replaced with a newer blurb for the same or a closely related story. If a story is still in the news and the article is still being updated when a blurb would be removed from the template, the item may be added to the Ongoing section at the discretion of the administrator updating the template.
- Pictures
- The ITN section usually has a captioned picture in the upper right corner. The picture is posted for the topmost blurb which has an eligible picture to go with it (this may be a lower blurb if no pictures are available for higher blurbs). The use of a caption and the parenthetical (pictured) is used to direct readers to the context for the picture. If none of the blurbs have eligible pictures no picture posted - pictures are never associated with items in the recent deaths or ongoing section.
- Ongoing
- The purpose of the ongoing section is to maintain a link to a continuously updated Wikipedia article about either a single story which is itself also frequently in the news, or an event or occurrence that is frequently generating directly related news stories about the event or (for example an active armed conflict may generate news stories about the war as a whole and about individual battles within it). Items remain on the ongoing section until a nomination to remove them reaches consensus. This will happen when either the article stops receiving regular significant updates, regardless of whether the event is still ongoing or in the news.
- Recent deaths (RD)
- This section lists up to four people who have died not more than seven days ago. It does not detail people and deaths (e.g. occupation, age, and cause of death) due to size and length of the Main Page. Entries are listed in chronological order of death date (if two people who die on the same day the one posted later appears first), most recent first. Entries are removed after 7 days or when there are four more recent entries, whichever happens first. No single story will appear in more than one section concurrently - see #Deaths of people for how to determine whether a recent deaths or a blurb is most appropriate.
Criteria
Candidates for ITN are evaluated on two main grounds: the quality of the updated content and the significance of the developments described in the updated content. In many cases , qualities in one area can make up for deficiencies in another. For example, a highly significant event, such as the discovery of a cure for cancer, may have a sub-par update associated with it, but be posted anyway with the assumption that other editors will soon join in and improve the article. Conversely, an editor may write an in-depth update on a topic normally considered marginal, thus convincing commenters that it is deserving of inclusion. A successful nomination will normally go through several procedural steps before being added to the ITN template.
General criteria
All items posted to ITN, regardless of where, must meet the criteria in this section. Items must also meet the relevant specific criteria for blurbs, ongoing or RD detailed in below sections.
- In the News
- One or (ideally) more sources must be presented with the nomination that demonstrate the nominated item is actually in the news. Non-specialist, English-language news sources are often preferred but this is not an absolute requirement.
- Associated Wikipedia article
- There must be at least one Wikipedia article, whether existing or newly created, that is relevant to the nomination. This must be linked in the nomination.
- Updated
- Each ITN item contains an emboldened link to an article providing a substantial quantity of directly relevant information, attributed to reliable sources. Typically, the article has been updated to include this text or created in response to the recent/current event. The decision as to when an article is updated enough is subjective and differs between the types of items. Changes in tense (e.g. "is" → "was" for a person who has died) are necessary but rarely sufficient on their own.
- No major issues
- The article must be free of major issues, for example copyright and Biographies of living persons (BLP) problems. Articles with red maintenance tags are almost never posted, and those with orange very rarely.
- Consensus to post
- Every story must be nominated at Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates (WP:ITN/C). Before being added to the template must gain a consensus of those commenting that the general and specific criteria have been met.
Criteria for blurbs
- Current
- The event must be appearing currently in news sources, and/or the event itself occurred more recently than the oldest blurb currently on the template. Nominations that do not gain consensus before they are no longer current are typically closed as "stale".
- Significant
- Whether or not a topic is significant enough for inclusion in ITN is highly subjective and often contentious. Each item must be judged on it's own merits, and the consensus of those commenting on the individual nomination is what decides whether an item is significant or not. More guidance on this is in the #Significance section. Items listed at Wikipedia:In the news/Recurring items (WP:ITN/R) already have consensus as to their significance and so are exempt from this, but not the other requirements for blurbs.
- Updated
- What constitutes a sufficient update is subjective and determined by consensus. In general, a five-sentence update (with at minimum three references, not counting duplicates) is generally more than sufficient, while a one-sentence update is highly questionable. Updates that convey little or no relevant information beyond what is stated in the ITN blurb are insufficient on their own.
- In the case of a new, event-specific article, the traditional cut-off for what is enough has been around three complete, referenced and well-formed paragraphs. An example of the minimum required update for a new article is Fuzhou derailment at the time of its posting.
- If the recent/current event relates directly to previous occurrences (e.g. a major award honoring past achievements), the article can be considered sufficiently updated when there is consensus that it contains appropriate, up-to-date coverage of the entire chronology, irrespective of when the text was written or how many sentences pertain specifically to the recent/current event (apart from the requirement that it be mentioned).
- Prose
- While articles on topics such as sporting events and economics lend themselves to tables of numbers, updates must be at least in part written in prose to qualify for ITN consideration. For sporting events, a prose summary of the event/tournament and the final match(es) (if appropriate) is usually considered a minimum requirement.
- Referenced
- Content should be well referenced. At a minimum, all the information given in the blurb and other major information about the event must be thoroughly referenced. A few {{citation needed}} tags in other parts of the article are usually not a barrier to posting, though the article should not lack references in any major section, and biographical information is given special scrutiny.
- As with all Wikipedia articles, citations must be to reliable sources. References should be correctly formatted and not bare URLs.
- Quality blurb
- The blurb should be written in the simple present tense, be reasonably succinct, highlight the primary article, and give an overview of the event such that someone who was not aware of the event does not need additional context to understand it.
Criteria for ongoing
- Current
- The event must be appearing currently in news sources with frequent updates to a single story and/or multiple new or updated directly related stories.
- Significant
- Whether or not a topic is significant enough for inclusion in ITN is highly subjective and often contentious. Each item must be judged on it's own merits, and the consensus of those commenting on the individual nomination is what decides whether an item is significant or not. More guidance on this is in the #Significance section.
- Sports tournaments, other than the Olympic and Paralympic games, are very rarely added to the ongoing section. Single-winner tournaments, such as world cups and the Wimbledon Championships, essentially never are - a blurb reporting the outcome of the final match more usually gains consensus.
- Updated
- The article(s) must be receiving regular updates as the event progresses, and/or there must be a strong likelihood that this will happen. If the article is not being regularly updated it will not be posted to ongoing, regardless of whether the event itself is still occurring. There is no firm definition of how frequent the updates need to be, and it will be judged by consensus of those commenting, but if the last update was longer ago than the oldest blurb currently on the template then it is almost certainly not frequent enough.
- Prose
- It is normally preferred that updates to the article(s) include prose as well as simple updating of facts and figures, although this should happen as well. How much prose is required is subjective and depends on the individual event, but generally updates of several sentences to an article with at least a paragraph of prose is a minimum.
- Referenced
- Content should be well referenced. At a minimum, all the major information about the event must be thoroughly referenced. A few [citation needed] tags in other parts of the article are usually not a barrier to posting, though the article should not lack references in any major section, and biographical information is given special scrutiny. As with all Wikipedia articles, citations must be to reliable sources. References should be correctly formatted and not bare URLs.
Criteria for recent deaths
The deceased has a Wikipedia article that is:
- Not currently nominated for deletion or speedy deletion.
- Of sufficient quality to be posted on the main page, as determined by a consensus of commenters.
It is sometimes contentious whether or not the death of a person merits a blurb or a listing in the "recent deaths" section. This is discussed in the #Deaths of people section, but a person's death will not appear in both sections concurrently.
Because article quality is the most important factor for recent deaths listings, As of July 2016[update] it is frequently applied more strictly than for other nominations. As a general guide, articles that do not meet all the general criteria and at least most of the points below are unlikely to gain consensus to post:
- Generally comprehensive with coverage of all major parts of the subjects life
- Well referenced, in particular all potentially contentious statements require a citation - the BLP policy applies to the recently deceased.
- An article with single {{citation needed}} tag will sometimes be opposed, articles with multiple frequently will.
- Free from red and orange tags (e.g. for maintenance or disputes)
Criteria for pictures
- Free
- The picture must be fully free to use, with a proper license and provenance - the English Wikipedia policy does NOT permit fair use images to be used for ITN under any circumstances, without exception. In almost all cases, that means the picture is available on Wikimedia Commons.
- Recognisable at thumbnail size
- Images on the ITN template are typically only 120 pixels wide (100 for portrait images), and so pictures with small details (e.g. maps) are not suitable. It is sometimes possible to crop an image to only show the portion relevant to the nominated item.
- Relevant
- The picture must be of a person or event mentioned in a blurb. The person or event is notated with a parenthetical comment (pictured). Generally, purely decorative elements (like flags or logos) aren't posted (many are ineligible because of non-free content policies anyway).
Special considerations
Deaths of people
When a person who is the subject of a Wikipedia has recently died and their article is in good shape, there is a choice of nominating them for a blurb or for a listing in the recent deaths section (there is no option to appear in both concurrently). It can sometimes be quite contentious which is most appropriate, but in general the following criteria act as a guide that helps in the majority of cases:
- For deaths where the person's life is the main story, where the news reporting of the death consists solely of obituaries, or where the update to the article in question is merely a statement of the time and cause of death, the "recent deaths" section is almost always used.
- For deaths where the cause of death itself is a major story (such as the unexpected death of prominent figures by murder, suicide, or major accident) or where the events surrounding the death merit additional explanation (such as ongoing investigations, major stories about memorial services or international reactions, etc.) a blurb may be merited to explain the death's relevance. In general, if a person's death is only notable for what they did while alive, it belongs as an RD link. If the person's death itself is newsworthy for either the manner of death or the newsworthy reaction to it, it may merit a blurb.
- The existence of an article about the "Death of [subject]" or "Killing of [subject]" (or similar titles) is an indication that a blurb may be more warranted.
- In rare cases, the death of major transformative world leaders in their field may merit a blurb. These cases are rare, and are usually posted on a sui generis basis through a discussion at WP:ITNC that determines there is community consensus that the death merits a blurb.
- Comparisons to deaths of prior persons (we posted John Doe, so we should also post Jane Smith, or conversely we didn't post Bill Jones, so we cannot post Susie Johnson) are rarely considered sufficient to post in absence of consensus. Although some people use examples of people whose deaths did merit a blurb as a benchmark to measure the popular and media reaction to a death against. Such people include Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher, David Bowie and Prince (musician).
Recurring items
Certain regularly recurring events, such as most national elections and some sports tournaments, are considered of sufficient interest to be placed on ITN every time they occur; they are listed at Wikipedia:In the news/Recurring items (WP:ITN/R). Items listed there are considered exempt from having to prove their notability and significance through discussion on the candidates page and may be posted as soon as there is consensus:
- That this instance of the event is in the news,
- A cited update with prose of sufficient quality and quantity has been added to the article; and
- There is an accurate and suitable blurb
Discussions on proposed inclusions and removals to the list should take place at Wikipedia:In the news/Recurring items.