Gadgette's Holly Brockwell joins Jimmy Wales' Wikitribune
Wikitribune, Jimmy Wales' new platform that intends to fight the issue of fake news, has appointed Holly Brockwell, editor-in-chief of Gadgette, as it's first journalist.
Holly Brockwell has been appointed as Wikitribune's first journalist
Brockwell, who is based in London, has become the first recruit on the site which Wales aims to finance through crowdfunding.
"Online media faces some really significant challenges in the form of business models, ad blockers, shrinking budgets, moderation, and of course the infamous "fake news." WikiTribune is all about starting fresh, creating an online news platform as we would if it were invented now. That includes some really exciting innovations that I can't talk about just yet – but I'm beyond thrilled to be part of the project. If anyone can fix news, it's Jimmy," she told The Drum.
While announcing the site last month, Wales, founder of Wikipedia explained: "This will be the first time that professional journalists and citizen journalists will work side-by-side as equals writing stories as they happen, editing them live as they develop, and at all times backed by a community checking and rechecking all facts."
Wales made the announcement of hiring Brockwell through Twitter:
"I'm so excited to be part of WikiTribune. Let's change the world!" #wikitribune journalist #1 @holly https://t.co/WyIYe4TP0c
— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) May 5, 2017
The site is expected to begin full operations later this year with Brockwell beginning the initial content creation through a blog.