{{Short description|Defunct free-content news wiki}} {{Distinguish|text=''The Signpost'', the online newspaper of the English Wikipedia}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Use American English|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox website | name = Wikinews | logo = 120px|The current Wikinews logo | screenshot = border|240px|Detail of the Wikinews multilingual portal main page | caption = Screenshot of the home page | collapsible = yes | url = {{URL|wikinews.org}} | commercial = No | type = News wiki | registration = Optional | language = {{flatlist| *Albanian *Arabic *Bosnian *Catalan *Chinese *Czech *Dutch *English *Esperanto *Finnish *French *German *Greek *Gun *Hebrew *Italian *Japanese *Korean *Limburgish *Norwegian *Persian *Polish *Portuguese *Romanian *Russian *Serbian *Shan *Spanish *Swedish *Tamil *Ukrainian }} | language_count = 31 | owner = Wikimedia Foundation | author = Wikimedia community | launch_date = {{Start date and age|2004|11|8}} | location = Miami, Florida | users = {{formatnum:{{NUMBEROF|users|en.wikinews}}}} | current_status = Read-only since {{End date and age|2026|05|04}} | content_license = CC-BY 2.5<ref>{{cite mailing list |url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikinews-l/2005-September/000329.html |title=[Wikinews-l] The Wikinews Licensure Poll is closed |date=September 20, 2005 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |mailing-list=Wikinews-l |last=Siedlecki |first=Dariusz }}</ref> | logocaption = Logo }}
'''Wikinews''' was a free-content news wiki and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation that gathered and reported news collaboratively through user-created content. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has distinguished Wikinews from Wikipedia by saying, "On Wikinews, each story is to be written as a news story as opposed to an encyclopedia article."<ref>{{cite news |author=Glasner |first=Joanna |date=November 29, 2004 |title=Wikipedia Creators Move Into News |work=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/11/65819 |url-status=live |access-date=April 21, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607071611/http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/11/65819 |archive-date=June 7, 2007}}</ref>
On June 28, 2025, the Wikimedia Foundation's Sister Projects Task Force submitted a proposal for closing Wikinews. In March 2026, the WMF announced that Wikinews would be closed and made read only on May 4 of that year.
== History== thumb|The beta version logo, used until February 13, 2005
The first recorded proposal of a Wikimedia news site was a two-line anonymous post on January 5, 2003, on the Wikimedia community's Meta-Wiki.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Eloquence |title=User:Eloquence/History - The history of Wikinews and my role in it |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/User:Eloquence/History |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015221058/http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/User:Eloquence/History |archive-date=October 15, 2012 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |newspaper=Wikinews |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Talk:Wikinews/Archive |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikinews/Archive |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715185923/https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikinews/Archive&oldid=4306 |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=Wikimedia Meta-Wiki |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation}}</ref> Daniel Alston, who edited Wikipedia as Fonzy,<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 1, 2003 |title=User:Fonzy - Revision as of 08:16, August 1, 2003 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Fonzy&diff=prev&oldid=1315899 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805061807/https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Fonzy&diff=prev&oldid=1315899 |archive-date=August 5, 2022 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation}}</ref> claimed to have been the one who posted it.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 9, 2005 |title=Wikinews: Difference between revisions - Revision as of 18:39, November 9, 2005 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikinews&diff=prev&oldid=27867383 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915061155/https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikinews&diff=prev&oldid=27867383 |archive-date=September 15, 2022 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation |quote=Yes, I did make that anonymous post, I am not glory seeking, just getting the facts straight. Wikews was a terrible name I admit :p}}</ref> The proposal was then further developed by German freelance journalist, software developer, and author Erik Möller.<ref name=":1" /> Early opposition from long-time Wikipedia contributors, many of them pointing out the existence of Wikipedia's own news summaries, gave way to detailed discussions and proposals about how it could be implemented as a new project of the Wikimedia Foundation.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Wikinews/Vote |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikinews/Vote |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127203426/https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikinews/Vote |archive-date=January 27, 2023 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=Wikimedia Meta-Wiki |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation}}</ref>
The domain name wikinews.org was registered on April 2, 2004.<ref>{{Cite web |title=wikinews.org whois lookup |url=https://who.is/whois/wikinews.org |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=who.is}}</ref> In November 2004, a demonstration wiki was established to show how such a collaborative news site might work.<ref name=":2" /> A month later, in December 2004, the site was moved out of the "demo" stage and into the beta stage under public domain copyleft.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Data:Wikipedia statistics/meta.tab |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Data:Wikipedia_statistics/meta.tab |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230910042626/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Data:Wikipedia_statistics/meta.tab |archive-date=September 10, 2023 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=Wikimedia Commons |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":3" /> A German language edition was launched at the same time. Soon, editions in Italian, Dutch, French, Spanish, Swedish, Bulgarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Thai, Norwegian, Chinese, Turkish, Korean, Hungarian, Greek, Esperanto, Czech, Albanian, and Tamil (in that chronological order) were set up.<ref name=":0" />
In September 2005, the project moved to the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=September 25, 2005 |title=Wikinews switches to Creative Commons license |newspaper=Wikinews |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_switches_to_Creative_Commons_license |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512065124/http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_switches_to_Creative_Commons_license |archive-date=May 12, 2013}}</ref> On September 7, 2007, the English Wikinews published its 10,000th article.<ref>{{Cite news |title=English Wikinews publishes 10000th article |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/English_Wikinews_publishes_10000th_article |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805061807/https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/English_Wikinews_publishes_10000th_article |archive-date=August 5, 2022 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |newspaper=Wikinews |date=September 7, 2007 |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation}}</ref>
=== Closure === On June 28, 2025, the Wikimedia Foundation's Sister Projects Task Force reviewed a proposal for closing Wikinews, followed by a three-month public consultation.<ref>"Public consultation about Wikinews", ''Wikimedia Meta-Wiki'', Wikimedia Foundation.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 11, 2025 |title=Wikinews, a sister project to Wikipedia, faces imminent closure amid low web traffic |url=https://thedesk.net/2025/07/wikimedia-foundation-closing-wikinews/ |access-date=January 13, 2026 |website=TheDesk.net |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Proposal for Closing Wikinews - Meta-Wiki |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal_for_Closing_Wikinews |access-date=April 3, 2026 |website=meta.wikimedia.org |language=en}}</ref>
On March 30, 2026, it was announced by the WMF that Wikinews would be closed and made read-only on May 4 that year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Board of Trustees Approves Closure of Wikinews |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard#c-Victoria-20260330090000-Board_of_Trustees_Approves_Closure_of_Wikinews |access-date=March 30, 2026 |website=meta.wikimedia.org |language=en}}</ref>
== Interviews == [[File:David Shankbone and Shimon Peres.jpg|right|thumb|Wikinews reporter David Shankbone with Israeli president Shimon Peres in 2007]]
Wikinews reporters have conducted interviews with several notable people, including an interview in December 2007 with Israeli President Shimon Peres by Wikinews reporter David Shankbone. Shankbone had been invited to conduct the interview by the America-Israel Friendship League and the Israeli foreign ministry.<ref name="biginterview">{{cite news |author=Jones |first=K.C. |date=January 14, 2008 |title=Wikinews Gets Big Interview: Israeli President Shimon Peres |newspaper=Information Week |url=http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205604529 |url-status=live |access-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022011913/https://www.informationweek.com/it-life/wikinews-gets-big-interview-israeli-president-shimon-peres |archive-date=October 22, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Rose |first=Adam |date=January–February 2009 |title=The Wikinews Ace: Why Shimon Peres sat down with David Shankbone |url=https://www.cjr.org/on_the_job/the_wikinews_ace.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509193458/https://www.cjr.org/on_the_job/the_wikinews_ace.php |archive-date=May 9, 2012 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=Columbia Journalism Review}}</ref>
Other notable interviews have included writers, actors, and politicians, such as Augusten Burroughs,<ref>{{cite web |last=Asper |first=Colleen |date=April 2008 |title=David Shankbone with Colleen Asper |url=http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/04/books/david-shankbone-with-colleen-asper |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423072155/http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/04/books/david-shankbone-with-colleen-asper |archive-date=April 23, 2008 |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=The Brooklyn Rail}}</ref> several 2008 U.S. Republican Party presidential primaries candidates like Sam Brownback and Duncan Hunter,<ref name="biginterview" /> and others like British politician Tony Benn,<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 12, 2007 |title=Wikinews interviews: Tony Benn on U.K. politics |newspaper=Wikinews |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_interviews:_Tony_Benn_on_U.K._politics |access-date=February 5, 2023}}</ref> writer Eric Bogosian,<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 17, 2008 |title=Eric Bogosian on writing and the creative urge |newspaper=Wikinews |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Eric_Bogosian_on_writing_and_the_creative_urge |access-date=February 5, 2023}}</ref> New Zealand politician Nick Smith,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 8, 2007 |title=Nick Smith responds to claims he is New Zealand's worst behaved politician |newspaper=Wikinews |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Nick_Smith_responds_to_claims_he_is_New_Zealand%27s_worst_behaved_politician |access-date=February 5, 2023}}</ref> former New Zealand prime minister John Key,<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 23, 2007 |title=Exclusive video interview with New Zealand Opposition leader, John Key |newspaper=Wikinews |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Exclusive_video_interview_with_New_Zealand_Opposition_leader,_John_Key |access-date=February 5, 2023}}</ref> World Wide Web co-inventor Robert Cailliau,<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 16, 2007 |title=Wikinews interviews World Wide Web co-inventor Robert Cailliau |newspaper=Wikinews |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_interviews_World_Wide_Web_co-inventor_Robert_Cailliau |access-date=February 5, 2023}}</ref> drag queen RuPaul,<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 6, 2007 |title=RuPaul speaks about society and the state of drag as performance art |newspaper=Wikinews |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/RuPaul_speaks_about_society_and_the_state_of_drag_as_performance_art |access-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-date=January 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105084758/https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/RuPaul_speaks_about_society_and_the_state_of_drag_as_performance_art |url-status=live }}</ref> and former Wikimedia Foundation executive Sue Gardner.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 24, 2007 |title=Interview with Sue Gardner of the Wikimedia Foundation |newspaper=Wikinews |url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Interview_with_Sue_Gardner_of_the_Wikimedia_Foundation |access-date=February 5, 2023}}</ref>
== List == {{As of|May 2026}}, Wikinews content pages have been created in {{NUMBEROF|languages|Wikinews}} editions, all of which were made read-only on the week of May 4 of that year.<ref name=":0" /> The Wikinews sites had a total of {{NUMBEROF|articles|total.Wikinews|N}} articles.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Data:Wikipedia statistics/data.tab – Wikimedia Commons |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Data:Wikipedia_statistics/data.tab |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=Wikimedia Commons |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330161420/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Data:Wikipedia_statistics/data.tab |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Notes === * The "'''total pages'''" column refers to the number of pages in ''all'' namespaces, including both '''content pages''' and '''non-content pages''' (user pages, files, talk pages, "project" pages, categories, redirects, and templates). * "'''Users'''" refers to the number of user ''accounts'', regardless of current activity – ''not'' the number of people or devices ''using'' (accessing) Wikinews. * "'''Active users'''" are registered users who have made at least one edit in the last thirty days. * "'''Files'''" is the number of locally uploaded files. * The statistics are derived from API:Siteinfo on MediaWiki and updated at Data:Wikipedia statistics/data.tab on Commons every six hours, and are displayed with {{tlx|NUMBEROF}} via {{tlx|Wikinews stats}}.
=== Edition details === :''Notes cannot be added directly into table header - please see "Notes" section just above'' {{Static row numbers}} {{#invoke:AutosortTable|create|class=wikitable plainrowheaders sortable static-row-numbers static-row-header-hash|style=text-align:right;|separator=--|order=12, 1|numeric=12|descending=12, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11|hidden=11, 12|caption=Details of Wikinews editions|rowheader=1 |header = -- Language -- Language (local) -- Wiki -- Content pages -- Total pages -- Edits -- Admins -- Users -- Active users -- Files <!-- -- Percentage --> |colstyle = -- text-align:left; -- text-align:left; -- text-align:left; -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- <!-- col 12 is hidden so align doesn't matter here --> <!-- A --> | {{Wikinews stats|ar|Arabic|Arabic}} <!-- B --> | {{Wikinews stats|bg|Bulgarian}} | {{Wikinews stats|bs|Bosnian}} <!-- C --> | {{Wikinews stats|ca|Catalan}} | {{Wikinews stats|cs|Czech}} <!-- D --> | {{Wikinews stats|de|German}} <!-- E --> | {{Wikinews stats|el|Greek}} | {{Wikinews stats|en|English|link=English language}} | {{Wikinews stats|eo|Esperanto}} | {{Wikinews stats|es|Spanish}} <!-- F --> | {{Wikinews stats|fa|Persian}} | {{Wikinews stats|fi|Finnish}} | {{Wikinews stats|fr|French}} <!-- G --> | {{Wikinews stats|guw|Gun}} <!-- H --> | {{Wikinews stats|he|Hebrew}} | {{Wikinews stats|hu|Hungarian}} <!-- I --> | {{Wikinews stats|it|Italian}} <!-- J --> | {{Wikinews stats|ja|Japanese}} <!-- K --> | {{Wikinews stats|ko|Korean}} <!-- L --> | {{Wikinews stats|li|Limburgish|Limburgish}} <!-- M --> <!-- N --> | {{Wikinews stats|nl|Dutch}} | {{Wikinews stats|no|Norwegian|comment=(Bokmål)}} <!-- O --> <!-- P --> | {{Wikinews stats|pl|Polish}} | {{Wikinews stats|pt|Portuguese}} <!-- Q --> <!-- R --> | {{Wikinews stats|ro|Romanian}} | {{Wikinews stats|ru|Russian}} <!-- S --> | {{Wikinews stats|sd|Sindhi}} | {{Wikinews stats|shn|Shan}} | {{Wikinews stats|sq|Albanian}} | {{Wikinews stats|sr|Serbian}} | {{Wikinews stats|sv|Swedish}} <!-- T --> | {{Wikinews stats|ta|Tamil}} | {{Wikinews stats|th|Thai}} | {{Wikinews stats|tr|Turkish}} <!-- U --> | {{Wikinews stats|uk|Ukrainian}} <!-- V --> <!-- W --> <!-- X --> <!-- Y --> <!-- Z --> | {{Wikinews stats|zh|Chinese}} }}
==== Statistics totals ==== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;" |+ Selected totals of assets and involved people for all Wikinews editions |- ! scope="col"| !! scope="col"| Content pages !! scope="col"| Total pages !! scope="col"| Edits !! scope="col"| Admins !! scope="col"| Users !! scope="col"| Active users !! scope="col"| Files <!-- !! scope="col"| Percentage --> |- ! scope="row"| Total | {{NUMBEROF|articles|total.wikinews|n}} || {{NUMBEROF|pages|total.wikinews|n}} || {{NUMBEROF|edits|total.wikinews|n}} || {{NUMBEROF|admins|total.wikinews|n}} || {{NUMBEROF|users|total.wikinews|n}} || {{NUMBEROF|activeusers|total.wikinews|n}} || {{NUMBEROF|files|total.wikinews|n}} <!-- | {{#expr:{{NUMBEROF|ARTICLES|totalactive.wikinews}}/{{NUMBEROF|ARTICLES|totalactive.wikinews}}*100 round 2}}% --> |}
==See also== * WikiTribune * Wikitorial
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == {{Sister project links}} * {{Official website}} * Wikinews Statistics
{{Wikimedia Foundation}} {{Authority control}}
Category:American news websites Category:Citizen journalism Category:Creative Commons-licensed websites Category:Internet properties established in 2004 Category:Multilingual websites Category:Wikimedia projects Category:Multilingual news services Category:Internet properties disestablished in 2026