User-compiled collaborative news site Wikinews is now distributing its daily "print edition" via Apple's iTunes store.

Readers can subscribe to a feed on iTunes which will ensure that the latest issue of Wikinews is delivered daily. Of course, as it's in pdf format it can't be read on an iPod like a podcast or videoblog, but users will be able to read copies on their PCs - or print each edition to read offline.

Wikinews, a division of Wikipedia, allows an online community of users to write and edit news stories. Like its parent division, its collaborative, 24/7 nature means that articles are rarely "finished" - instead, they are subject to constant updates and revisions to allow for new perspectives and events. For this reason, a pdf "print" version of the newspaper seems an unusual move - you can view today's print edition here. Is the deadline for the print edition arbitrary, so whatever version of the story exists at say 20.00 hours is the definitive version for that day?

Wiki advocates would argue that this merely reflects the deadlines facing traditional newspapers. It's long been a newspaperman's lot to go to press as a story unfolds, though it might be argued in return that at least with newspapers, journalists are used to working to deadlines and editors are trained to accomodate news cycle demands.

The inhabitants of traditional newsrooms, however, might wonder why Wiki's team are moving in the direction of a print edition, when rolling news headlines courtesy of the internet have become the industry standard.

Source: Editor's weblog

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