Converting calls to deprecated template:news reference to template:cite news with WP:AWB.
Copy the code from the box below into a file settings-migrate-news-ref.xml and load that into WP:AWB.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. NO WARRANTY FOR CORRECTNESS.
Please carefully check each diff before saving!
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Settings>
<Project>
<projectlang proj="wikipedia" lang="en" />
</Project>
<Options>
<selectsource index="1" text="Template:news reference" />
<general general="False" tagger="False" />
<categorisation index="0" text="" />
<skip does="False" doesnot="True" regex="True" casesensitive="True" doestext="" doesnottext="[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference" />
<message enabled="False" text="" />
</Options>
<FindAndReplaceSettings>
<findandreplace enabled="True" regex="True" casesensitive="True" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*)[Tt]emplate[:]" replacewith="$1" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference[\s]*[|][\s]*)firstname([\s]*=)" replacewith="$1first$2" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference[\s]*[|][^}]*[\s|])firstname([\s]*=)" replacewith="$1first$2" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference[\s]*[|][\s]*)lastname([\s]*=)" replacewith="$1last$2" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference[\s]*[|][^}]*[\s|])lastname([\s]*=)" replacewith="$1last$2" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference[\s]*[|][\s]*)org([\s]*=)" replacewith="$1publisher$2" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference[\s]*[|][^}]*[\s|])org([\s]*=)" replacewith="$1publisher$2" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference[\s]*[|][\s]*)urldate([\s]*=)" replacewith="$1accessdate$2" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference[\s]*[|][^}]*[\s|])urldate([\s]*=)" replacewith="$1accessdate$2" />
<datagridFAR find="({{[\s]*)[Nn]ews[ _]+[r]eference([\s]*[|])" replacewith="$1cite news$2" />
</FindAndReplaceSettings>
<startoptions>
<summary text="clean up" />
<summary text="re-categorisation per [[WP:CFD|CFD]]" />
<summary text="clean up and re-categorisation per [[WP:CFD|CFD]]" />
<summary text="removing category per [[WP:CFD|CFD]]" />
<summary text="[[Wikipedia:Template substitution|subst:'ing]]" />
<summary text="stub sorting" />
<summary text="clean up + typo fix" />
<summary text="bad link repair. [[Wikipedia:Bad links|You can help!]]" />
<summary text="replacing deprecated {{news reference}} with {{[[template:cite news|cite news]]}}" />
<summaryindex index="replacing deprecated {{news reference}} with {{[[template:cite news|cite news]]}}" />
<find text="" regex="False" casesensitive="False" />
<menu>
<wordwrap enabled="True" />
<bypass enabled="True" />
<noautochanges enabled="False" />
<skipnochanges enabled="False" />
<preview enabled="False" />
<minor enabled="False" />
<watch enabled="False" />
<timer enabled="True" />
<sortinterwiki enabled="False" />
<sortcats enabled="False" />
</menu>
</startoptions>
</Settings>