Journalist Roundtables: How Media Professionals Engage with Wikipedia

When journalist roundtables, structured discussions between news professionals and Wikipedia editors aimed at improving factual accuracy and source reliability. Also known as media-Wikipedia dialogues, these sessions are where reporters learn how Wikipedia really works — and where editors learn what journalists need to get stories right. It’s not about fixing Wikipedia. It’s about fixing how the news uses it.

These roundtables don’t happen in boardrooms. They happen in Slack channels, Zoom calls, and sometimes over coffee at Wikimania. Journalists show up because they’ve been burned by outdated Wikipedia entries or hoaxes that made it into headlines. Editors show up because they’re tired of seeing their work misquoted or ignored. The result? A shared understanding: Wikipedia isn’t a source — it’s a starting point. And if you’re going to use it, you need to know how it’s built. That’s why tools like the Wikipedia Library, a free access program giving journalists legal access to paywalled academic journals and archives are central to these talks. Editors teach reporters how to trace citations back to original sources. Reporters teach editors how headlines get twisted, and why timing matters during breaking news.

It’s not just about fixing errors. It’s about building systems. When a major outlet runs a correction, that change ripples across Wikipedia through editorial corrections, updates triggered by revised reporting in trusted media that force Wikipedia articles to be revised. Roundtables help both sides anticipate those moments. They’ve led to better guidelines on using preprints, clearer rules for citing live events, and even new workflows for handling high-risk articles during elections or disasters. The Signpost, Wikipedia’s independent news outlet that tracks editor trends, policy shifts, and community debates often reports on outcomes from these meetings — not as press releases, but as real-time feedback loops.

What you’ll find in this collection are the stories behind those conversations. From how a single correction in The New York Times forced 200 Wikipedia edits, to how a roundtable in Brazil helped local journalists stop spreading colonial-era myths from outdated articles. You’ll see how editors use Huggle to catch vandalism after a false rumor goes viral, how Wikidata keeps language editions in sync during global events, and why some newsrooms now require their staff to complete a basic Wikipedia literacy course. These aren’t theory pieces. They’re field reports from the front lines of truth.