# Wikinews > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wikinews > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wikinews.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikinews > Source revision: 1356862153 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Defunct free-content news wiki}} {{Distinguish|text=''[The Signpost](/source/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](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation) | author = [Wikimedia community](/source/Wikimedia_community) | launch_date = {{Start date and age|2004|11|8}} | location = [Miami](/source/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](/source/Creative_Commons_license){{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 }} | logocaption = Logo }} '''Wikinews''' was a [free-content](/source/Free_content) news [wiki](/source/wiki) and a [project](/source/Wikimedia_project) of the [Wikimedia Foundation](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation) that gathered and reported news collaboratively through [user-created content](/source/user-created_content). Wikipedia co-founder [Jimmy Wales](/source/Jimmy_Wales) has distinguished Wikinews from [Wikipedia](/source/Wikipedia) by saying, "On Wikinews, each story is to be written as a news story as opposed to an encyclopedia article."{{cite news |author=Glasner |first=Joanna |date=November 29, 2004 |title=Wikipedia Creators Move Into News |work=[Wired](/source/Wired_(website)) |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}} 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](/source/anonymous_post) on January 5, 2003, on the [Wikimedia community](/source/Wikimedia_movement)'s [Meta-Wiki](/source/Meta-Wiki).{{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](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation)}}{{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](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation)}} Daniel Alston, who edited Wikipedia as Fonzy,{{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](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation)}} claimed to have been the one who posted it.{{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](/source/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}} The proposal was then further developed by German freelance journalist, software developer, and author [Erik Möller](/source/Erik_M%C3%B6ller). 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](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation).{{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](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation)}} The domain name wikinews.org was registered on April 2, 2004.{{Cite web |title=wikinews.org whois lookup |url=https://who.is/whois/wikinews.org |access-date=February 5, 2023 |website=who.is}} In November 2004, a [demonstration](/source/technology_demo) wiki was established to show how such a [collaborative](/source/collaborative) [news site](/source/news_site) might work. A month later, in December 2004, the site was moved out of the "demo" stage and into the [beta](/source/beta_version) stage under [public domain](/source/public_domain) [copyleft](/source/copyleft).{{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](/source/Wikimedia_Commons) |publisher=[Wikimedia Foundation](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation) |url-status=live }} A [German language](/source/German_language) edition was launched at the same time. Soon, editions in [Italian](/source/Italian_language), [Dutch](/source/Dutch_language), [French](/source/French_language), [Spanish](/source/Spanish_language), [Swedish](/source/Swedish_language), [Bulgarian](/source/Bulgarian_language), [Polish](/source/Polish_language), [Portuguese](/source/Portuguese_language), [Romanian](/source/Romanian_language), [Ukrainian](/source/Ukrainian_language), [Serbian](/source/Serbian_language), [Japanese](/source/Japanese_language), [Russian](/source/Russian_language), [Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_language), [Arabic](/source/Arabic_language), [Thai](/source/Thai_language), [Norwegian](/source/Norwegian_language), [Chinese](/source/Chinese_language), [Turkish](/source/Turkish_language), [Korean](/source/Korean_language), [Hungarian](/source/Hungarian_language), [Greek](/source/Greek_language), [Esperanto](/source/Esperanto), [Czech](/source/Czech_language), [Albanian](/source/Albanian_language), and [Tamil](/source/Tamil_language) (in that chronological order) were set up. In September 2005, the project moved to the [Creative Commons](/source/Creative_Commons) Attribution 2.5 license.{{Cite news |date=September 25, 2005 |title=Wikinews switches to Creative Commons license |newspaper=Wikinews |publisher=[Wikimedia Foundation](/source/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}} On September 7, 2007, the English Wikinews published its 10,000th article.{{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](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation)}} === 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."[Public consultation about Wikinews](/source/metawiki%3APublic_consultation_about_Wikinews)", ''Wikimedia Meta-Wiki'', [Wikimedia Foundation](/source/Wikimedia_Foundation).{{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}}{{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}} On March 30, 2026, it was announced by the WMF that Wikinews would be closed and made read-only on May 4 that year.{{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}} == Interviews == [[File:David Shankbone and Shimon Peres.jpg|right|thumb|Wikinews reporter [David Shankbone](/source/David_Shankbone) with Israeli president [Shimon Peres](/source/Shimon_Peres) in 2007]] Wikinews reporters have conducted interviews with several [notable](/source/Notability_in_the_English_Wikipedia) people, including an interview in December 2007 with [Israeli President](/source/Israeli_President) [Shimon Peres](/source/Shimon_Peres) by Wikinews reporter [David Shankbone](/source/David_Shankbone). Shankbone had been invited to conduct the interview by the [America-Israel Friendship League](/source/America-Israel_Friendship_League) and the [Israeli foreign ministry](/source/Ministry_of_Foreign_Affairs_(Israel)).{{cite news |author=Jones |first=K.C. |date=January 14, 2008 |title=Wikinews Gets Big Interview: Israeli President Shimon Peres |newspaper=[Information Week](/source/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}}{{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](/source/Columbia_Journalism_Review)}} Other notable interviews have included writers, actors, and politicians, such as [Augusten Burroughs](/source/Augusten_Burroughs),{{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](/source/The_Brooklyn_Rail)}} several [2008 U.S. Republican Party presidential primaries candidates](/source/2008_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries) like [Sam Brownback](/source/Sam_Brownback) and [Duncan Hunter](/source/Duncan_L._Hunter), and others like British politician [Tony Benn](/source/Tony_Benn),{{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}} writer [Eric Bogosian](/source/Eric_Bogosian),{{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}} [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand) politician [Nick Smith](/source/Nick_Smith_(New_Zealand_politician)),{{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}} former New Zealand [prime minister](/source/prime_minister) [John Key](/source/John_Key),{{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}} World Wide Web co-inventor [Robert Cailliau](/source/Robert_Cailliau),{{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}} [drag queen](/source/drag_queen) [RuPaul](/source/RuPaul),{{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 }} and former Wikimedia Foundation executive [Sue Gardner](/source/Sue_Gardner).{{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}} == 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. The Wikinews sites had a total of {{NUMBEROF|articles|total.Wikinews|N}} articles.{{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](/source/Wikimedia_Commons) |publisher=[Wikimedia Foundation](/source/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 }} === 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](/source/commons%3AData%3AWikipedia_statistics%2Fdata.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 |colstyle = -- text-align:left; -- text-align:left; -- text-align:left; -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- | {{Wikinews stats|ar|Arabic|Arabic}} | {{Wikinews stats|bg|Bulgarian}} | {{Wikinews stats|bs|Bosnian}} | {{Wikinews stats|ca|Catalan}} | {{Wikinews stats|cs|Czech}} | {{Wikinews stats|de|German}} | {{Wikinews stats|el|Greek}} | {{Wikinews stats|en|English|link=English language}} | {{Wikinews stats|eo|Esperanto}} | {{Wikinews stats|es|Spanish}} | {{Wikinews stats|fa|Persian}} | {{Wikinews stats|fi|Finnish}} | {{Wikinews stats|fr|French}} | {{Wikinews stats|guw|Gun}} | {{Wikinews stats|he|Hebrew}} | {{Wikinews stats|hu|Hungarian}} | {{Wikinews stats|it|Italian}} | {{Wikinews stats|ja|Japanese}} | {{Wikinews stats|ko|Korean}} | {{Wikinews stats|li|Limburgish|Limburgish}} | {{Wikinews stats|nl|Dutch}} | {{Wikinews stats|no|Norwegian|comment=([Bokmål](/source/Bokm%C3%A5l))}} | {{Wikinews stats|pl|Polish}} | {{Wikinews stats|pt|Portuguese}} | {{Wikinews stats|ro|Romanian}} | {{Wikinews stats|ru|Russian}} | {{Wikinews stats|sd|Sindhi}} | {{Wikinews stats|shn|Shan}} | {{Wikinews stats|sq|Albanian}} | {{Wikinews stats|sr|Serbian}} | {{Wikinews stats|sv|Swedish}} | {{Wikinews stats|ta|Tamil}} | {{Wikinews stats|th|Thai}} | {{Wikinews stats|tr|Turkish}} | {{Wikinews stats|uk|Ukrainian}} | {{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="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}} |} ==See also== * [WikiTribune](/source/WikiTribune) * [Wikitorial](/source/Wikitorial) == References == {{Reflist|30em}} == External links == {{Sister project links}} * {{Official website}} * [Wikinews Statistics](/source/metawiki%3AWikinews) {{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 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Wikinews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikinews) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikinews?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.