The co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, is launching an online news publication in an attempt to combat fake news. Professional journalists, interested readers and trusted volunteers, will run the Wikitribune. Journalists will publish the sources for each published story and make materials like audio transcripts available to the public.
Community members will be encouraged to fact-check all articles. Members of the public will then be able to suggest edits to a story but all changes will need to be approved by staff members or trusted volunteers before being published.
The Wikitribune will be ad-free and will not be behind a paywall but will be financed via a crowdfunding campaign, which launches today, and will cover a wide range of issues. Readers will then be able to take out monthly $15 subscriptions, which will then give them influence over the topics that the reporters cover.
Wales believes that this is just the beginning of the project and it is only designed to attract funding and journalism. Once this stage is complete, he will look to expand including towards offering the news in languages other than English.
Source: BBC
