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Thursday, June 7, 2007

Wikinews sends reporter to G8


Wikinews reporter Sean Heron, who is mostly active as an admin on the German Wikinews, requested accreditation because he wanted to cover the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.

Problem was he needed a letter of authorisation from Wikinews, something hadn't occured before. Unsure about how to proceed (and who should sign the letter), Wikinews contributors tried to draw the attention of Board Member and Wikinews founder Eloquence, and asked on Jimbo's talk page, but didn't get any response. Wikinews veteran Brian McNeil said he was disappointed by the lack of interest in this local project problem, calling Wikinews "a neglected step-child" in the Wikimedia family. To make sure that Sean didn't miss the opportunity waiting for the Board to react, he was provided with a letter and a press card, and he got accepted by the G8 organisation.

Sean is currently in Heiligendamm, but is faced with several problems, one being transportation difficulties because of the many protesters... Meanwhile his notes were used to write part of the Wikinews article:

Post-Kyoto agreement is subject of G8 debate

3 comments:

Ninja Tao said...

I hope Sean can get a bit better at doing the reporting notes, there's not much to make an article from in them and I doff my hat to the people who have done so.

Anonymous said...

I remember once that anthere wrote... pretty nearly this... "I hope Wikinews is wise in who they grant accreditation." In other words, that job is delegated to Wikinews itself. It is not a WMF issue.

Jason Safoutin said...

Hear Hear on Brian's quote...Wikinews is a "neglected step-child."