Abstract

Wikinews is a news website which allows anyone with internet access to publish and edit journalistic content directly on its site without prior authorization or registration.This article examines the way in which Wikinews contributors negotiate its ‘neutral point of view’ policy, which differs from the traditional sense of journalistic objectivity in the way that it is both defined and implemented.The study encompasses a detailed review of 2332 news articles and their associated ‘talk pages’, published in the period from November 2004 to July 2005. Close textual analysis is used to conduct a qualitative study of a selection of these Wikinews articles, their documented editorial history and referenced sources, so as to offer a thorough critique of the ‘neutral point of view’ policy, as assessment is made of the importance of the Wikinews model for online journalism more widely.