Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Newport Life Magazine

Hi. Last week I went in and updated the entry on Newport Life magazine, since the copy appeared to be nine years old and was really out of date, with a lot of factual errors.

In cleaning up the entry, I tried to keep it concise and factual, and tried to eliminate some of the promotional puffery that was there before. I didn't provide citations, because I didn't really understand how that should be done, and it seemed rather unnecessary, since old citations would probably perpetuate the information that was no longer accurate.

To clarify a misunderstanding I'm seeing here: The magazine is not owned by the Newport Daily News. The two share an office and an owner, but have different editorial, design and sales staffs, and are distributed in completely separate ways. The magazine is not an insert in the newspaper, it is an independent, standalone magazine. Both publications are owned by Gannett.

I didn't realize that as editor of the magazine, I would be considered to have a conflict of interest in Wikipedia's eyes. As a veteran journalist, I'm very cognizant of such matters. But I know the information that was needed for the entry better than anyone, so who else should have written it? I can't think of anyone else who would have known all that stuff and gotten the information correct.

I'm open to any recommendations you have to make things right.

Thanks, 70.163.99.196 (talk) 21:01, 20 January 2020 (UTC)Fred Albert
 * , you asked: But I know the information that was needed for the entry better than anyone, so who else should have written it. Ah, I think you might say the same of a profile you would write as a journalist: why not just let the Subject of the profile write or edit it? Bias is the answer, and the appearance of bias. To avoid that we go only on secondary sources. Since we are just compiling secondary sources into a tertiary summary, that also means editors do not need to know the subject as they are relying on the independent secondary source. Regarding the COI, numerous messages were left on your talk page, and you were also invited to explain your COI at the COI noticeboard. See your talk page, and I would suggest the COIN thread is the best place to ask any questions. We do not allow COI editors to directly influence article content, you have to go through a request edit process.ThatMontrealIP (talk) 01:12, 21 January 2020 (UTC)