Wikipedia's owner creates 'Wikitribune' to combat fake news

While tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and Google have all been trying in their own ways to combat fake news, nothing seems to be effective in preventing spread of false and misleading news.  But, that may soon change. To curb the nuisance of fake news, Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia has created a crowd-sourced online news publication itself dubbed, Wikitribune that will pair professional journalists with an army of volunteer community contributors.

The contributors will help professional reporters filter the facts using a variety of sources such as full transcripts, video and audio interviews.

Launched today, the website is running a crowdfunding campaign and has already bagged 1,733 supporters. Money raised through the site will be used to pay the salaries of journalists who work for Wikitribune.

"Wikitribune is a news platform that brings journalists and a community of volunteers together. We want to make sure that you read fact-based articles that have a real impact in both local and global events. And that stories can be easily verified and improved," the website reads.

Similar to Wikipedia’s working model, this news publication will also be supported by individuals who’d like to donate for server and other maintenance costs. Those who donate will become supporters and will have a say in which subjects and story threads the site focuses on. And Wales intends that the community of readers will fact-check and sub-edit published articles.

Describing Wikitribune as “news by the people and for the people,” Wales said, “This will be the first time that professional journalists and citizen journalists will work side-by-side as equals writing stories as they happen, editing them live as they develop, and at all times backed by a community checking and rechecking all facts.”

Though the website is launching on the sides of beginning of the UK general election campaign, however, Wales said the reason for the project came from the US. “This is something I’ve been thinking about for a very long time. But things came to a head for me post-Brexit and post-Donald Trump. There’s a feeling things have gone wrong. The quality of media has declined in many areas — not all areas — and there’s a real desire by the public for something more serious and more reliable,” said Wales.

The website is launching in English, with other languages coming after, as funds pour in.

If the fundraising campaign goes well, Wales hopes to be able to hire the site’s first journalists “as soon as possible.” However, if enough funding isn't received, any money raised will be returned to those who donated.