Template:Cite news

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This template employs intricate features of template syntax.

You are encouraged to familiarise yourself with its setup and parser functions before editing the template. If your edit causes unexpected problems, please undo it quickly, as this template may appear on a large number of pages.
Remember that you can conduct experiments, and should test all improvements, in either the or your user space before changing anything here.

This template is used to cite sources in Wikipedia. It is intended specifically for news sources. For citing journals/magazines and websites, see {{Cite journal}} and {{Cite web}}, respectively.

Usage

All parameter names must be lower case.

Copy a blank version to use. Remember to use the "|" (pipe) character between each field. Please delete any unused fields to avoid clutter in the edit window.

Citations within a page should use consistent formats. However, there is no consensus about which format is best.

Common form with author(s) in a single parameter

Day Month Year: {{cite news |title= |author= |url= |newspaper= |date= |accessdate=30 April 2025}}

Month Day, Year: {{cite news |title= |author= |url= |newspaper= |date= |accessdate=April 30, 2025}}

Common form with first and last

Day Month Year: {{cite news |title= |first= |last= |url= |newspaper= |date= |accessdate=30 April 2025}}

Month Day, Year: {{cite news |title= |first= |last= |url= |newspaper= |date= |accessdate=April 30, 2025}}

All parameters

All parameters, horizontal format (delete parameters you don't need): {{cite news |title= |author= |first= |last= |authorlink= |authorlink2= |author2= |author3= |author4= |author5= |author6= |author7= |url= |format= |agency= |newspaper= |publisher= |location= |isbn= |issn= |oclc= |pmid= |pmd= |bibcode= |doi= |id= |date= |page= |pages= |at= |accessdate= |language= |trans_title= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |deadurl= |ref=}}

All parameters, vertical format

{{cite news
| title       = 
| author      = 
| first       = 
| last        = 
| authorlink  = 
| authorlink2 = 
| author2     = 
| author3     = 
| author4     = 
| author5     = 
| author6     = 
| author7     = 
| url         = 
| format      = 
| agency      = 
| newspaper   = 
| publisher   = 
| location    = 
| isbn        = 
| issn        = 
| oclc        = 
| pmid        = 
| pmd         = 
| bibcode     = 
| doi         = 
| id          = 
| date        = 
| page        = 
| pages       = 
| at          = 
| accessdate  = 
| language    = 
| trans_title = 
| quote       = 
| archiveurl  = 
| archivedate =
| deadurl     =
| ref         = 
}}

Essential parameters

title: Title of the article. Note that title must be on one line in order for the hyperlink (if there is one) to display properly. Do not enclose it in quotations marks, italics or other formatting, though it may be wikilinked. Reduce "all capitals" to some other title case.
work or publisher: Name of the publication that ran the item, e.g., The Miami Herald, The Scotsman, Al Jazeera, or BBC News. Can also be used for the name of a column or subpart of an issue. For works with italicized titles (such as The New York Times and The Bangkok Post), use the work parameter. Do not italicize; the software will do so automatically. (You may also use journal, magazine, periodical, or work.)

For news sources or organizations commonly written without italics, such as CNN or BBC News, use the publisher parameter. If the source is a specific program of news channel, such as CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°, the program title should be listed under work, and the channel listed under publisher.

date: Date of publication. To avoid ambiguity, write out the month in words, using the same date format as in the main text of the article. When this information is absent for an online source consider using {{cite web}} instead.

Optional parameters

author: Author.
- last works with first to produce last, first as name of author.
  - author1, author, and authors are synonyms for author.
  - surname, surname1, and last1 are synonyms for last.
- authorlink works either with author or with last & first to link to the appropriate Wikipedia article. Does not work with URLs.
- author2, author3, ... author9: Allows additional authors. Numbers must be used consecutively. author9 is not actually displayed, but causes et al. to appear. Can also use lastn, firstn, and authorlinkn.
- coauthors: Equivalent to author2.
url: Link to the news item if available online (note this is not for a link to the main web page of the work of publisher, but only to a copy of the item specified in title). Start the url with the communications protocol e.g., http://. Do not post urls of Google or Yahoo! hosted AP content: that content is transient. Use MSNBC or another provider that keeps AP archives.
accessdate: Date when the news item was accessed, if it was found online. Should be in the same format as the rest of the article. Must not be wikilinked.
format: Format, e.g. PDF. Don't specify for HTML (implied as default). This parameter is sometimes used for completely different purposes, with values such as "fee required" and "reprint", but its original intent was to warn readers of file formats that their browsers might have trouble with.
agency: The news agency (wire service) that provided the content, if any, e.g. Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, etc.
location: City of publication (e.g., "Toronto" for The Globe and Mail) should be included if the city of publication is not part of the name of the newspaper (e.g. "London" for the The Daily Telegraph). For student newspapers, include the name of the school.
publisher: The publisher that publishes the news source. For news sources commonly written without italics, such as Al Jazeera and BBC News, this parameter should be used in place of work. For major print publications (which will have italicized titles), this parameter is commonly omitted. In some instances (e.g. many UK newspapers), the publisher is the company or organization that owns the publication. In all American newspapers, the publisher is an individual person, whose name will be found on the masthead. There is never any need to cite this person in a reference. For print publications, this parameter should normally be left blank.
isbn, issn, oclc, pmid, pmd, bibcode, doi Unique object identifiers, if applicable. Will automatically generate an appropriately wikilinked link to the object in question. Most ordinary newspaper articles will not have one of these.
id: Identifier of a type not listed above. Remember, if you use this parameter, you must specify the kind of identifier, not just give a number.
page or pages: The page(s) on which the article is found. page inserts the abbreviation "p." before the number; pages inserts "pp." Use only one of these parameters. If numbers are entered for both, pages overrides page.
at: Position within the newspaper when page/pages is unsuitable, e.g. |at=p. 2, col. 3, |at=p. 2, para. 4 (when the page number is not sufficiently specific), |at=section C, p. 2 (when the newspaper has several sections, each starting their page numbering at 1), or |at=no. 456 (something in a numbered list). This parameter is ignored if either page/pages is specified.
language: The language in which the source is written. If English (the default) do not use this parameter. See also the 'trans_title' parameter.
- trans_title: A translated title of the article, if the original title is in a foreign language. Would normally be used in conjunction with the 'language' parameter.
quote: Relevant quotation. Adding a quotation can help locate online copies of the item using a text search, especially if the original link goes dead.
archive parameters (if used, must be used both of them together)
- archiveurl: The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if (or in case) the URL becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services like WebCite and Archive.org.
- archivedate: Date when the item was archived. Should not be wikilinked. If not given, one might look up all available archive versions from URL http://web.archive.org/web/*/ (append the full original URL) to determine an appropriate date.
- deadurl: Should be set to "yes"/"no" to indicate if the original link is dead or live. Setting |deadurl=no will change the main link to the original url.
ref: ID for anchor. By default, no anchor is generated. The ordinary nonempty value |ref=ID generates an anchor with the given ID; such a linkable reference can be made the target of wikilinks to full references, especially useful in short citations like shortened notes and parenthetical referencing. The special value |ref=harv generates an anchor suitable for the {{harv}} template; see anchors for Harvard referencing templates.
postscript: if specified, over-rides the default behaviour of terminating the citation with a full stop. Leave blank to suppress the full stop. This may be useful when using a quote which ends in punctuation, or when generating an output consistent with other templates. It is preferred to manually adding ending punctuation, as the punctuation occurs within the <cite> tag, so will appear before any icons added by browser plugins.

Examples

Using first and last for author's name

{{cite news | first=Cassandra | last=Jardine | title=The return of the secondary modern | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3621779/The-return-of-the-secondary-modern.html | location = London | agency= | newspaper=The Daily Telegraph | date=5 August 2004 }}
→ Jardine, Cassandra (5 August 2004). "The return of the secondary modern". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3621779/The-return-of-the-secondary-modern.html.

No author but sourced to a news agency

{{cite news | first= | last= | title=Drugs: Chips trader gets 15 years, 10 strokes | url=http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=48660 | newspaper=Daily Express | location=Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia | date=29 March 2007 | agency=Bernama }}
→ "Drugs: Chips trader gets 15 years, 10 strokes". Daily Express. Bernama (Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia). 29 March 2007. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=48660.

Using authorlink to link to article about the author on Wikipedia

{{cite news | first=George | last=Monbiot | authorlink=George Monbiot | title=From toxic waste to toxic assets, the same people always get dumped on | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/21/global-fly-tipping-toxic-waste | newspaper=The Guardian | location=London | date=22 September 2009 }}
→ Monbiot, George (22 September 2009). "From toxic waste to toxic assets, the same people always get dumped on". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/21/global-fly-tipping-toxic-waste.

Using "format" parameter when not HTML. No need to use "location" parameter because "New York" is already in name of paper.

{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | title=State Prison Treatment | date=4 February 1883 | url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9503E3D71631E433A25757C0A9649C94629FD7CF | format=PDF }}
→ "State Prison Treatment" (PDF). The New York Times. 4 February 1883. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9503E3D71631E433A25757C0A9649C94629FD7CF.

Using page to identify the reference by page; news item in library but not on line

{{cite news | first=Arthur | last=Reed | title=Four-rate plan in air-fare 'jungle' | page=3 | date=9 December 1976 | newspaper=The Times | location = London }}
→ Reed, Arthur (9 December 1976). "Four-rate plan in air-fare 'jungle'". The Times (London): p. 3.

A foreign-language news article

{{cite news |author=Joliet, François |title=Honni soit qui mal y pense |date=30 April 2005 |language=French |newspaper=Le Figaro |location=Paris |trans_title=Shame on those who think evil }}
→ Joliet, François (30 April 2005). "Honni soit qui mal y pense [Shame on those who think evil]" (in French). Le Figaro (Paris).

Using archiveurl and archivedate to refer to items that disappeared from newspaper's own website but are now available from an archive site

{{cite news | author=Achenbaum, Emily S. | title=Freedom lost, without a trial | newspaper=The Charlotte Observer | url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/109/story/47573.html | date=11 March 2007 | archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070419112159/www.charlotteobserver.com/109/story/47573.html | archivedate=19 April 2007 }}
→ Achenbaum, Emily S. (11 March 2007). "Freedom lost, without a trial". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on 19 April 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070419112159/www.charlotteobserver.com/109/story/47573.html.

COinS

This template produces COinS metadata; see COinS in Wikipedia for background information.