Tachyony: Imported page

2022-01-18T00:43:16Z

Imported page

New page

{{essay|WP:NOTROUTINE|interprets=Wikipedia:Deletion policy}}
{{Nutshell|This essay encourages editors to avoid interpreting [[WP:ROUTINE]] to mean something that it doesn't.}}

Editors and contributors to Wikipedia may have difficulty determining '''what is and is not routine coverage''' of people and or events.

The guideline [[WP:ROUTINE]] is widely considered to be a very good guideline. Routine coverages such as weddings, funerals, sports scores, and other "and finally..." stories can be used to add to a notable article some interesting and details about a subject. That does not necessarily mean that such articles are good sources for establishing notability of a subject in the first place.

Conversely, there are many articles of notable events. Coverage in the media may be "routine" to the media (such as routine coverage of the [[Super Bowl]] or [[Winter Olympics]]) but that does not disqualify the event from being notable.

Editors should be careful in defining what is referred to as "routine" coverage, especially when determining [[WP:N|notability]].

==Examples==
===Sports===
In the world of sports, it is true that many sporting events are routinely covered, but that does not make all coverage of a sporting event "routine" at all. Modern-day sporting events can appear regularly in blogs or in local news as sports scores (sometimes called "box scores") without details. Such box scores are examples of routine coverage. Also (as in the case of the [[National Football League]]), pre-season games may produce multiple transactions and roster cuts or additions. Generally these statistics are routinely carried in newspapers but does little to support any notability standard for players.

However, if an article goes into detail about the event it is not necessarily "routine" coverage. Not every sporting event earns a feature article in the press and not every professional hopeful gains significant coverage and feature articles.

In other words:
# "routine coverage" is not a disqualification for notability.
# "routine coverage" may indeed be significant enough to surpass Wikipedia's [[WP:GNG| general notability guideline]].

===Politics===
Once every four years, the [[United States]] holds an election for [[United States President|President]]. These elections are "routinely" covered by every news outlet and the event is a "pre-planned event" as a part of the [[United States Constitution]]. However, that does not mean that this coverage would be excluded from [[WP:N|notability]] discussions because of the [[WP:ROUTINE]] guideline.

===Establishing notability for "people" vs "events"===
Additionally, bear in mind that [[WP:ROUTINE]] is a subsection of the guideline [[Wikipedia:Notability (events)]] and therefore only applies to establishing notability about events. The primary guideline discussing notability of people is [[Wikipedia:Notability (people)]].

==Conclusion==
Be careful not to make [[WP:ROUTINE]] mean something that it does not. Just because a news article is written about a pre-planned event does not make it "routine" coverage.

==See also==
* [[Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions]]
* [[WP:ROUTINE]]
* [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wink Hartman]] AFD discussion involving several issues on this essay

{{Wikipedia essays|building}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:What is and is not routine coverage}}
[[Category:Wikipedia essays]]
[[Category:Wikipedia essays about deletion]]
[[Category:Wikipedia essays about building the encyclopedia]]

Wikipedia:What is and is not routine coverage - Revision history

Tachyony: Imported page