The list can go on and on. What project does NOT have such a news area? I would note that most of these projects also have a WWN-like publication. As such, as a matter of policy, I don't think I should be arguing for it, but the argument should be against it if we don't want it. I think it's needed.
Excuse me, but most of those sites *only* have a news feed, they do not have both a journal and an announcements section. Gimp and Samba are two clear examples; I haven't looked much anywhere else.
They all have a common, high profile, source for news and announcements. That's exactly what WWN is.
You somehow seem to feel that our users are stupid and can't wade through announcements that don't pertain to them.
Further, Gnome and KDE are rotten examples, because they are really umbrella projects - they contain many sub projects within them. So, for example, it's useful to capture the info regarding Evolution 1.2.3, and Galeon 1.2.9. We do *not* have such a constant stream of different news sources.
Jer