] While we are faced with many new challenges, Wikinews
] will adopt the key principles which have made Wikipedia
] and the other Wikimedia websites what they are today:
] neutrality, free content, and an open decision making
] process.
]
] We seek to promote the idea of the citizen journalist,
] because we believe that everyone can make a useful
] contribution to painting the big picture of what is
] happening in the world around us. The time has come to
] create a free news source, by the people and for the
] people. We invite you to join us in this effort which has
] the potential to change the world forever.

Wow, what an original concept! :) Wikipedia is more a community then a technology, and they have a lot of momentum. I think neutral POV articles that are community edited make sense, but there are some challenges:

1. Wikipedia articles about politically contentious issues tend to be volatile and poor.
2. There is an issue of timeliness. All of the arguing over the POV of the story must happen in a short period of time before the story becomes old news.

Regardless, I think wikipedia will produce something here thats valuable.

Wikinews - From Meta; discussion about Wikimedia projects