Wikinews reporters interviewed Sue Gardner, an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation, the project that runs Wikipedia and several other projects, including Wikinews.
Before coming to Wikimedia, she ran CBC.CA, the website of Canada's national public broadcaster. She was also a radio and television journalist for 10 years.
Matt: Hi Sue, could you explain what you do for the Wikimedia Foundation?
Matt: What was your job position for cbc.ca, and what did you work on while you were there?
Dodge: Please do
Dodge: How did you come to work for the Wikimedia Foundation? Were you asked to join by someone? And if so, who?
Brian: In joining WMF was there anything you brought from CBC.ca's policies that you feel have influenced your contributions to the foundation? Can you give Wikinews any tips? I am assuming their similar balance/neutrality policies as the BBC's
Matt: Have you had much to do with Wikinews during the course of your work for the Wikimedia Foundation?
Matt: Sure.
Dodge: When the Foundation moves to San Fransisco [sic], will you be going with it?
Matt: Do you believe that citizen journalism sites like Wikinews should have an editorial review process?
Matt: Yeah.
Brian: Gawker sounds like what we do, only a lot less cautious.
Mike: Sue, the community initiative "Conference of the Americas" is getting support from Turner Broadcasting for the citizen journalism unconference. How do you feel about the community partnering with such a big name in journalism?
Mike: The proposal is basically that Turner will give us a venue for the conference and bring in industry people to speak, in addition to more citizen-oriented speakers and our own from Wikinews. I know personally I didn't believe such a media conglomerate would want to partner with free culture, so it was surprising to me. Does it surprise you, or do you see a good working relationship between "free" and "for profit" journalism outlets?
Brian: we had a reporter with the beeb for a week
Dodge: And the BBC used some of our content earlier
Matt: Do you think the fact that they can reuse what we make in partnership with them is one of the reasons for people wanting to partner with us, whereas a lot of traditional media want to retain copyright on work?
Brian: If they don't understand GFDL, is CC-BY (per Wikinews) better for their legal folks?
Matt: Do you believe that (at least for non-profit news sources), releasing material into the public domain makes it simpler for them to manage/handle?
Brian: or do they not understand PD?
Brian: For wikinews all they have to do is credit us with the story to comply with the license
Brian: Yes, a link to us would be nice too
Matt: Yeah, as long as they state its CC-BY-2.5 and give our name, they can use it. Can users who have edited Wikinews be respected around real journalists? Will they be turned down because they have written for an online website like Wikinews, which is not particularly fond of the mainstream media, and not traditional media?
Matt: Although you have an account on the English wikinews (User:SueGardner), you have never edited. One would assume that as a journalist you would use this project. Is there any main reason you don't edit here or do you just not have time?
Matt: If you could interview anyone for Wikinews who would you like to interview?
Brian: Not yet, although we reported on her though (see Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize for Literature)
Dodge: Do you use Wikinews as a primary source for news, or do you use other mainstream sources, and then look to Wikinews?
Brian: Wikinews may become comprehensive but it will be a difficult process in my opinion.
Matt: Do you think the reason for this is wikigroaning, such as more topics are written in focused areas rather than things of interest to the most people?
Brian: It is a "faster" project than Wikipedia.
Matt: You may be interested in What Wikinews is not, the first point, Wikinews is not Paper
Brian: We got great cooperation on some big stories like the UK attacks, did big media notice? (Major explosions at UK oil depot, Coordinated terrorist attack hits London)
Matt: A lot of attention has been given to improving Wikipedia. Do you think more attention is needed for the other projects? If so, which ones do you think need more attention?
Dodge: What advice can you give to aspiring journalists, based on your experiences at the CBC?
Brian: "Above all, the central question about the Wikinews effort is its credibility. "Making a newspaper is hard... Someone who wants to do it but doesn't really know how hasn't solved the problem by gathering a lot of other people who don't know, either." This is a quote from a former editor of Encyclopædia Britannica, have we proven him wrong?
Matt: If you were the interviewer here, what else would you have asked yourself?
were to create something (a conference, or conversation); I'd be interested in doing that with you. I am really interested in this project.
Matt: Thank you for your time.

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Interview with Sue Gardner of the Wikimedia Foundation