Expanding Content
"Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment."
That's the mission of the Wikimedia foundation.
I have to ask ... what's the point of being one of the world's least popular news sites? I could see the point if they were the only free news site in a world full of economic barriers. But news is already free. The economics of information force it to be free.
My conclusions:
- That's why Wikipedia has taken off and Wikinews has not. Wikipedia has a unique value proposition: a free encyclopedia. There is nothing unique about free news.
- The best way for the Wikimedia Foundation to further its mission of "freely sharing in the sum of all knowledge" is to support free access to news at other sites rather than providing a site itself. This also means supporting blogs and twitter and other media that allows people to stay up to date.
Anything other conclusion is an ego trip. It's a refusal to admit that there are some situations where other organizations are already doing a pretty good job of fulfilling Wikimedia's mission. Environmental and poverty organizations understand this. If no one else is working on it, you fill the gap yourself. If other people are working on it, you support them and conserve your resources.