[Foundation-l] [Wikinews-l] Proposal for the creation of aWikinews foundation

Wed Aug 22 09:00:54 UTC 2007

Craig Spurrier wrote:

>The proposal is essentially Wikinews Chapter, what we actually call it
>is only a small concern assuming we get usage of the Wikinews trademark.

Wikinews Reporters' Association?

Wikinews Reporters' Union? (preferred choice as per UK's NUJ).

>> In France, but I think it should be the same in other countries, in
>> order to have a press card, the main aim of the "Wikinews Foundation"
>> you have to earn 50% in a journalism job. And earn it in France. So
>> Wikinews Foundation won't help the french wikinewsie. For
>> accreditation the French Chapter is helping at it, and actually we are
>> not that bad in having them.
>>   
>This is mostly a European issue. In the US, Canada, New Zealand (and
>most other countries) anyone who wants to can call themselves a
>journalist and create a press card. The problem is in the absence of any
>sort of government press cards most event organizers and government
>officials (police mostly) base their decisions off of the presence of an
>organization that issued the person with a presscard. One important step
>of this process is that event organizers and government official will
>contact or expect contact from the issuing organization who must be
>willing to verifiy that the person is one of their own.

The issue in a lot of the mainland Europe countries is that to be officially
recognised as the press you have to derive the majority of your income from
journalistic pursuits. Then, for example, here in Belgium you get a blue
press plaque for your car and official recognition from the ministry of the
interior. Just like my neighbour who works for De Staandard.

>Most of the current accredited reporters are not currently covered by a
>chapter. I would imagine this will always be the case. A Wikinews
>foundation would however be able to act globally, since the vast
>majority of our task would just be to confirm that user is with us.

No Belgian chapter that I'm aware of, and there are two accredited reporters
in the country. Michael has done some great Original Reporting too, and
needed the press pass we currently issue to avoid being beaten and arrested
by the police when covering a story.

>> By the way, did you asked and discussed for a "user at wikinews.org"
>> adress or other global @wikinews.org adresses recently?

>It was discussed on our water cooler and an e-mail was sent to the
>foundation(or so I am told) after Brion said that it technically was
>doable. BrianMC would probably be the better person to answer this.

Several of us approached people in one of the IRC channels (during an noline
meeting) and inquired about the issue. As Craig says, we were told it was
technically possible - but again there were the editorial liability issues
that could be implied with the act of issuing email addresses.

As a consequence, I went ahead and bought the domain
http://www.wikinewsie.org and set up email accounts for all active
accredited reporters. I would be quite happy to hand that over to a Wikinews
Chapter, whatever it is called.

Per my name suggestions above, and from writing this before catching up on
foundation-l, I'd say we don't just want to look at the possibility of a
non-profit. I am aware there is some stigma attached to the word "union" in
some circles, particularly in the U.S., but how does such an organisation
differ from a non-profit? My thoughts are that a union is more meant to
represent its members - and that is what we want.

Brian McNeil
[[Wikinews:User:Brianmc]]