Wikinews: the trials and tribulations of editing citizen journalism

Blazing the collective intelligence trail for the world, the Wikinews project is certainly having its ups and downs. But six months after its launch, it's still chugging along. Wired News describes the challenges that the offshoot of Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute and edit, is facing in attracting original stories and editing and fact checking material from news amateurs. Most stories that show up on the site are rehashings of syndicated global news. But now and again, original stories pop up, such as opening discount stores in southern Romania. Jimmy Wales, the founder of the Wiki is optimistic that the site will become more diverse as people catch on around the world, posting articles well out of the sights of major media corporations. And although editing remains a daunting task for the Wikinews crew especially because of digital vandals, one of their goals, the neutrality of its postings, is apparently being accomplished according to Bill Mitchell at Poynter. Stay tuned to see where collective intelligence will take the world of journalism and read our former postings here and here.

Source: Wired News