Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ben White (freelance writer)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete.  MBisanz  talk 01:48, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Ben_White_(freelance_writer)
AfDs for this article: 
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The page has had over a year, with a notability notice, and no responses. The subject of the article is a non-notable freelance write, who has not been published by any mainstream publisher and who has not received any coverage in any mainstream or notable sources - beyond having submitted articles himself Avaya1 (talk) 18:51, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note that the previous AFD was for a hockey player named Ben White.E.M.Gregory (talk) 09:04, 4 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep - he is a writer who has been published by mainstream publishers such as Al Jazeera and has been profiled (albeit negatively) by the Jerusalem Post. I think there is sufficient sources to suggest his notability meets the WP:GNG even if one doesn't really approve of his writing stance or his journalistic integrity. JMWt (talk) 19:50, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 21:16, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Journalism-related deletion discussions. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 21:16, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Middle East-related deletion discussions. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 21:17, 30 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Weak keep, some of the references provided are persuasive towards his notabilibity, although at least one is a dead link.  PK  T (alk)  22:04, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Note that the "profile" linked by JMWt is not a profile in the usual sense (with details about his background, education, accomplishments, career,) but merely an article about a minor brouhaha over whether it was appropriate for an NGO to invite White to speak on the grounds that some consider his views to be extreme.E.M.Gregory (talk) 20:19, 2 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Delete freelance writers are rarely notable. Not many working journalists are, for that matter, but I see no evidence that White has been regularly employed as a journalist.  He appears to be more of a political activist who writes partisan essays.  There are no profiles of him; no evidence that he has ever written anything significant.  Here, The Guardian, which has published some of his essays, describes him as "a freelance journalist, writer, and human rights activist, specialising in Palestine/Israel."E.M.Gregory (talk) 20:19, 2 November 2016 (UTC)  But it does not count for sourcing/notability since it is the writer's bio note for an op-ed merely.E.M.Gregory (talk) 09:09, 8 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete White is an activist, not by any definition a "freelance journalist". We would need to have demonstration that people take notice of his work, as opposed to just occasionally publishing it to air a view on an issue.John Pack Lambert (talk) 20:36, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete – doesn't seem like a notable personality based on the sources. Minor media personalities (writers, spokespeople, etc. and even activists) tend to have many media mentions, but I have not found significant third-party coverage. —Ynhockey (Talk) 20:52, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
 * note these old comments on the article's talk page from 2015, under subhead "sourcing problem":
 * "Of the 33 sources currently in the article, 22 were written by White himself. 4 are by groups he's involved in...  showcase for the subject's opinions which weren't noted by anyone else... See WP:BLPSELFPUB. The whole "Political views and activities" section is sourced only to him, for example...
 * "Interesting to find the above comment. I just removed large chunks of self-sourced text. And tagged the page for notability. A writer's views are notable only if they are discussed in secondary sources. I have doubts about whether this writer/political activist is notable..."
 * "The sum total of White's notability appears to boil down to a pair of very minor spats with Zionists over his coverage of Israel in CounterPunch, itself not a particularly notable journal." E.M.Gregory (talk) 09:18, 8 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Delete as not only is there nothing satisfying, it's particularly coming from both unconvincing information and sources, there's literally nothing else aside from that, therefore it's deadlocked as delete with no otherwise substance. SwisterTwister   talk  23:46, 8 November 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.