Wikimedia Blog/Drafts/In the news roundup: June 17-23, 2015

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Posted June 23, 2015

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  • A mass shooting, a heat wave and the Danish elections - this week in news

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  • In the news roundup: June 17–23, 2015


Summary[edit]

Find out how Wikipedia is covering this week's current news events:

Body[edit]

Suggested alternative image for Charleston: [1]

Here are some of the global news stories covered on Wikipedia this week:

From the editors: This news roundup is a new content experiment for the Wikimedia blog. These news stories are based on content created on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. What do you think about this first example? Please share your feedback in the comments below.

Charleston church shooting[edit]

Vigils were held around the United States in memory of those killed. Image by The All-Nite Images, freely licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0.

On Wednesday evening (June 17), a mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine people were killed, including senior pastor and state senator Clementa C. Pinckney. A suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, was arrested the following day. The shooting has raised questions over the definition of the attack as a hate crime or as domestic terrorism, along with the continued use of the Confederate Battle Flag on several state symbols, including near the South Carolina State House, the Virginia license plate, and the Mississippi state flag.

Learn more in these related Wikipedia articles: Charleston church shooting, definitions of terrorism, Flags of the Confederate States of America § Display at South Carolina's state capitol

Danish elections[edit]

Former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt was defeated by the opposition bloc. Photo by Johan Wessman, freely licensed under CC-BY 3.0.

Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland went to the polls on Thursday (June 18) to elect the 179 members of the Folketing, the Danish parliamentary body. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the first female prime minister of the country, saw her "red" alliance—led by the centre-left Social Democrats—narrowly defeated by the opposition "blue" alliance. The populist Danish People's Party (DF) winning the most seats. DF's voteshare was underestimated by polling organisations before the vote. Second-place Venstre must now make a case for a minority government, or join in a coalition with DF.

Learn more in the related Wikipedia article: Danish general election, 2015

Pope Francis's encyclical[edit]

Pope Francis's second encyclical focuses on climate change and consumerism. Photo by Agência Brasil, freely licensed under CC-BY 3.0 Brazil.

Laudato si', Pope Francis's second encyclical, was officially published on Thursday (June 18) in eight languages. In it, the pope discusses consumerism, overdevelopment, and urges action on man-made climate change. It is seen as the first encyclical written entirely by Francis, and his focus on enviromental topics was welcomed by most onlookers, including the 14th Dalai Lama, and former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan.

Learn more in the related Wikipedia article: Laudato si'

Pakistan heat wave[edit]

Temperatures in Karachi, Pakistan's capital, exceeded 45°C (113°F). Photo by Greg, freely licensed under CC-BY 2.0.

This week, a heat wave struck Pakistan, causing the deaths of an estimated 700 people, most of them in the capital, Karachi. The heat wave—which has given Pakistan its highest recorded temperatures since 1979, with some areas of the country reaching 49°C (120°F)—coincided with the Islamic month of Ramadan, as well as a power outage when the national electricity grid crashed. Experts have blamed the heat wave on overdevelopment in Pakistan and its contribution to climate change. It follows a similar heat wave in neighbouring India earlier this year.

Learn more in the related Wikipedia article: 2015 Pakistani heat wave, List of extreme weather records in Pakistan

NBA Finals[edit]

The Warriors' Stephen Curry was his side's top points scorer in all but one of the six Finals games. Photo by Keith Allison, freely licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The 2015 NBA Finals were finalised on Tuesday (June 16), and saw the Golden State Warriors of California defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers by four games to two. Both teams had come through their regional finals with sound victories over the Houston Rockets and the Atlanta Hawks, respectively. Golden State's Andre Iguodala claimed the Most Valuable Player award in his team's first Finals triumph for 40 years.

Learn more in these related Wikipedia articles: 2015 NBA Finals, 2015 NBA Playoffs

Research stats[edit]


Wikipedia pageview statistics show the various spikes in activity on these articles. Photo by Joe Sutherland, freely licensed under CC-BY 4.0.

This week's most-visited story was by far Charleston church shooting, peaking at almost 69,000 page views on June 18. The pope's Laudato si' followed in second place with a page view spike exceeding 25,000 two days after the article's creation, and the encyclical's leak, on June 16. The article on the Danish general election saw a very similar, but not as strong, peak on Thursday, reaching a high of around 22,500 page views on polling day.

Popular throughout June was 2015 NBA Finals, peaking on game days and peaking at over 12,000 page views during the final on June 17. Data for 2015 Pakistani heat wave was inaccessible through stats.grok.se and so did not display correctly on the chart above.

To see how other news events are covered on the English Wikipedia, check out the 'In the news' section on its main page.

From the editors: This news roundup is a new content experiment for the Wikimedia blog. What do you think about this first example? Is this type of roundup interesting to you? Should we consider making it a weekly series? Please share your comments below to help us refine this idea.

Joe Sutherland, Communications Intern, Wikimedia Foundation

Photo credits from opening montage: "NYC Stands With Charleston Vigil and Rally 22nd June 2015.jpg" by The All-Nite Images, CC-BY-SA 2.0; "Folkemodet Helle Thorning-Schmidt 20150612 1057.jpg" by Johan Wessman, CC-BY 3.0; "Pakistan - Karachi - 12 - Misc Karachi - 20060124 110225.jpg" by Greg, CC-BY 2.0; "Stephen Curry (16454505719).jpg" by Keith Allison, CC-BY-SA 2.0; "Pope Francis at Vargihna.jpg" by Agência Brasil, CC-BY 3.0 Brazil; Collage by Andrew Sherman, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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  • Charleston church shooting: how was this news story covered on @Wikipedia? What do you think about this news feature on the Wikimedia blog? Please share your feedback in the comments below. (link)
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