Thomas, I'm beginning to think you've gone a little nuts. You've confused two different things:
(1) a general background check on a WMF employee *before* the Register story was published, and
(2) a specific check of the Register's references *after* the story was published, which can be done a lot quicker.
Thomas and I were both clearly talking about the period of time between the interview and the publishing of the story.
Precisely. Judging by the quotes in the article, Mike must have known The Register was intending to publish a story about Carolyn Doran having a criminal record. That's pretty much all the information the Wikinews people needed to do their research in a matter of hours, so I see no reason why the WMF couldn't have done the same. We're not talking about a full background check, we're talking about having enough information to break the story before The Register did and thus keep some level of dignity and credibility.