While this wasn't Interview with the Vampire, getting a live interview with Jimmy Wales of the Wikimedia Foundation is requiring more work and planning than ever. Four contributors to four different Wikinews language editions (with Swedish, Netherlands, and Polish) arranged to interview "Jimbo" in the Wikinews IRC channel, squeezed in before interviews with a periodical and a cable news source.
The interview was held publically in the Wikinews IRC channel because Wikinews was one of the prime topics for the interview. 
Wikinews is approximately one year old, with the English and German editions premiering the first week of December 2004. Since then the project has produced more than 13,000 articles in 16 languages, including the recently added Hebrew, Russian, and Japanese.
The project has not been without its detractors, and the questions asked of Mr. Wales reflected some of the most common criticisms.
The Wikimedia Foundation has turned to its constituency to cover basic operating costs as well as the ongoing capital expenditures which seem to grow at the same rate as Wikipedia's popularity: exponentially. From the first fundraiser in December/January of 2003/2004 (which raised about $30,000 after a server catastrophe) to the Fall Quarter fundraiser in 2005 (which raised $244,000), each fund raiser has met the goals laid out for it, usually in a very brief time frame.
"We wish to cover two quarters," said Florence Nibart-Devouard, member of the Wikimedia Foundation Board.
The draft budget for just the first quarter of 2006 is projecting costs of more than $400,000; and projections put the year's expenditures near $3.2 million over all. But beyond the general goal of covering the budgets for two quarters, the foundation has not placed a specific financial goal for their upcoming fund raiser.
As the interview progressed, with more and more observers, we got to that point where we really wanted to dig deeper into certain aspects of answers to our questions, but were short on time. Then it turned into a classic press conference, with interviewers tossing out questions rapid fire and Mr. Wales answering quickly and briefly to as many as he could... with all of us wishing we had more time to get more details and explanations.
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Interview with Jimbo Wales