 | This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
There has often been difficulty when deciding how Wikipedia should handle information about diplomats – for a particular diplomat, should there be an article specifically about the individual and, if not, how may information about the person best be included in other ways? We only have articles devoted to a specific person if that person is "notable", see Wikipedia:Notability (people), and "notability" is generally determined by criteria relating to the extent of coverage in multiple, reliable, independent sources. In addition some people are "likely to be notable" if they have exceptional achievements even if coverage in books or in the press is rather slight. However, and most strongly for living people, information we report must be verifiable, see WP:Verifiability, and without any verifiable information there cannot be an article, however important the individual.
There is a specific guideline about the notability of politicians, WP:POLITICIAN suggesting who is "likely to be notable" according to what they have achieved. In the USA many diplomats are (or have been) politicians and these criteria may well apply although there can be disagreement about whether the achievements of a diplomat are equivalent to having "held international, national or sub-national ... office". In the UK diplomats are rarely politicians but senior diplomats often receive honors and the notability guideline for people suggests that anyone who has "received a well-known and significant award or honor" is likely to be notable. Elsewhere in the world diplomats are generally civil servants and they may receive less attention in the press – care must be taken not to bias our coverage.