Wikipedia:In the news
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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. Because Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, it does a much better job with such entries than traditional, paper encyclopedias. 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 chronological order, with the most recent one 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 feature 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
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 placed added to the ITN template.
Updated content
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, but 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. Changes in verb tense (e.g. "is" → "was") or updates that convey little or no relevant information beyond what is stated in the ITN blurb are insufficient.
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).
Updated content must be thoroughly referenced. As with all Wikipedia articles, citations must be to reliable sources. 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.
Articles that are subject to serious issues, as indicated by 'orange'- or 'red'-level article tags, will not normally be accepted for an emboldened link.
Procedural
- There is a sufficiently updated non-stub article, with credible sources cited.
- A blurb is listed at Portal:Current events or one of its subpages
- The item has been nominated at Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates, with an emboldened link to the updated article(s). A freely licensed image to accompany the item may be suggested. Ideally this image should be covering the top news item. If there is no suitable image available for the top item a relevant image for an item further down the list should be used instead. If the image is of a living person it must only be used for the top item.
- If there is consensus to do so, the blurb is added to Template:In the news.
Special cases
Deaths
The death must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- The deceased was in a high-ranking office of power at the time of death and/or had a significant contribution/impact on the country/region.
- The deceased was widely regarded as a very important figure in his or her field.
- 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.
In addition, the article must have at least a paragraph of prose about the person's death (in accordance with ITN updating criteria) and the article as a whole must be B-class and/or be satisfactorily filled out with no major omissions of the person's life and effect.
Deaths should not be added without consensus at Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates.
- For previous discussion about this criterion, see Wikipedia:In the news/Death criteria.
Sports and other recurring events
Certain regularly recurring events are considered of sufficient interest to be placed on ITN every time they occur; they are listed at Wikipedia:In the news/Recurring items. Items listed there are considered exempt from having to prove their notability through discussion on the candidates page and may be posted as soon as a cited update is added to the article. Discussions on proposed inclusions and removals should take place on the talk page there.
Recognition
The following templates are used to credit the article's creator and nominator, as well as give notice on the article's talk page that an item about the article appeared on the main page. Instructions can be found on each template's documentation.
- Article creator's talk page: ({{ITN credit}}) {{subst:ITN credit|14 July|2024|Article name|7=created|subst=subst:}} --~~~~
- Article updater's talk page: ({{ITN credit}}) {{subst:ITN credit|14 July|2024|Article name|7=substantially updated|subst=subst:}} --~~~~
- Nominator's talk page: ({{ITN credit}}) {{subst:ITN credit|14 July|2024|Article name|7=recently nominated|subst=subst:}} --~~~~
- Self-nomination: ({{ITN credit}}) {{subst:ITN credit|14 July|2024|Article name|7=recently nominated ''and'' substantially updated|subst=subst:}} --~~~~
- Article talk page: ({{ITN talk}}) {{ITN talk|14 July|2024}} (check if small style templates in use, if so add small=yes parm)
Note: No one possesses special authority to provide recognition. If you notice that an editor's contributions have not been recognized, please feel free to do so.
Barnstar
Significant long-term contributions by a user to the In The News section may be recognised with this Barnstar:
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{{subst:InTheNews Barnstar|message ~~~~}} | The In The News Barnstar may be awarded to recognise significant long-term contributions by an editor to the In The News section.
This barnstar was designed by User:Melesse and User:Neutralhomer, and introduced in August 2010. |