Wikipedia:In the news section on the Main Page

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In the news
Criteria and procedures
Discussion
Suggestions
Current events

Shortcut: WP:ITNMP

This page describes the inclusion criteria for the 'In the news' section on the Main Page, known as ITN, as well as the procedure to place an item. ITN supports the central purpose of Wikipedia—making a great encyclopedia. ITN items link to encyclopedia articles that have been updated to reflect an important current event; it does not act as a newspaper, nor does it link to news articles.

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. Because Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, it does a much better job with such entries than a "dead tree" encyclopedia. ITN originated in the September 11, 2001 attacks, when entries were created and put on the Main Page within minutes of the attacks. The entries led to a infusion of interest by editors in creating a section on the Main Page, which linked to articles providing readers the context behind the news.

Contents 1 Criteria for adding entries 2 Notes for users 2.1 Guide to writing new articles based on recent events 2.2 How to suggest an article for ITN 3 Notes for administrators 3.1 Corresponding "Current Events" item 3.2 Main Page: Updates and Caching 3.3 Images

[edit] Criteria for adding entries

The In the news section should have 3-5 items. The criteria for inclusion, as decided through community consensus, are:

1. A story should be listed at Portal:Current events, or one of its subpages.
2. The current event needs to be important enough to warrant updating the corresponding article.
3. It should be a story of an international importance, or at least interest.
4. The article must be updated to reflect the new information and have a recent date linked (but remember: Wikipedia is not a news report so relatively small news items should not be put into articles; thus those type of news items should not be displayed on the Main Page).
5. A death should only be placed on ITN if it meets one of the following criteria: (a) the deceased was in a high ranking office of power at the time of death, (b) the deceased was a key figure in their field of expertise, and died unexpectedly or tragically, (c) the death has a major international impact that affects current events. The modification or creation of multiple articles to take into account the ramifications of a death is a sign that it meets the third criterion.
6. A short headline should be written for the current event and the link to the article that was updated based on the current event should be emboldened.
7. One and only one protected image should be included on Template:In the news at any one time. It should be no more than 100 pixels wide, be right justified, and have alt text. This can be done by enclosing the image code in <div style="float:right"> </div> and adding |100px| followed by the alt text inside the image code, for example: <div style="float:right">[[Image:example-photo.jpeg|100px|This is an example]]</div>. The use of the "|right" extended image markup should be avoided, since under the current MediaWiki parser it results in unsightly and unsymmetrical white borders around images on the coloured Main Page sections. When adding an image of a person, be sure to add "(pictured right)" to the news entry for clarity.

   Avoid using fair use images. Instead, find a related free image (PD, GFDL, CC etc.) as an alternative.

[edit] Notes for users

Outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (pictured), in his final speech in office, encourages the United States to return to its historic commitments to multilateralism and human rights. Former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet (age 91) dies one week after suffering a heart attack. Christer Fuglesang becomes the first Scandinavian astronaut in space as the Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to the International Space Station. Ethiopia begins to intervene in the Somali Civil War. The Iraq Study Group releases its final report, describing the situation in the Iraq War as "grave and deteriorating" and making seventy-nine policy recommendations. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events... view - page history - related changes - Edit (admins only) - Suggestions

[edit] Guide to writing new articles based on recent events

If you are interested in writing articles for inclusion in ITN, here are some tips:

• See these sources to look for breaking news in various parts of the world.
• Please endeavour at all times to have a NPOV in your reporting.
• This means news stories should also originate from all over the world.

[edit] How to suggest an article for ITN

This page (Template:In the news) is the "In the news" section on the Main Page. To protect against vandalism, the page is protected and can only be edited by administrators. Please follow the instructions below to suggest an item:

1. Since Wikipedia is not a newspaper, please check that the news item is important enough to merit updating the related encyclopedia article.
2. Update an article with the recent event or development. Please cite your sources, as with any article.
3. Place a brief news blurb about the event into Portal:Current events or one of its subpages. Make sure that the blurb links to the updated article.
4. Suggest the item at the candidates page. Bold the link to the updated article. If you have placed the news blurb in a Current events subpage, be sure to note this with the candidate.

[edit] Notes for administrators

[edit] Corresponding "Current Events" item

Before adding an item to ITN, ensure that there is a corresponding item at Portal:Current events with a URL to an article about the news story. This step ensures that news story is legit. If you feel that the linked media source or article is dubious or does not support the wording of the suggested blurb, please investigate further before putting possibly erroneous content on the Main Page.

[edit] Main Page: Updates and Caching

Any change made to Template:In the news immediately changes the 'In the news' section on the Main Page. The Main Page does not necessarily update immediately. In order to purge the cache of the Main Page so that the present version appears, click this link: http://en.wikipedia.org../../../index.html

[edit] Images

1. Before placing an image in the template, ensure that its copyright is well-documented and that it is legal for it to be displayed on the Wikipedia. Avoid using fair use images. Instead, find a related free image (PD, GFDL, CC etc.) as an alternative.
2. Before updating Template:In the news with a new image, protect that image and add {{Mprotected}} to the image's description page (or {{C-uploaded}} or {{M-cropped}} if you have uploaded a temporary copy from Commons, making sure you also copy the author attribution and the licence tag).
3. When using images, parenthetically note in italicized text that the mentioned item is pictured. Example: "...leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (pictured right) is sworn in..."
4. Unprotect the old image that is being removed, or speedy delete it if it has been temporarily uploaded. When deleting, don't forget to immediately check the deleted history of its image description page and restore any relevant Wikipedia-specific edits, category links, and tags (such as {{FeaturedPicture}}) that were on there beforehand.