A distinction that I see between funding the WMF blog from funding the *Signpost *is that the former is WMF corporate communications and the latter is community journalism. It would be difficult to maintain journalistic integrity and independence at the *Signpost *if its staff feel like their paychecks (which would probably be similar to what part-time reporters make at US college newspapers) are in any way dependent on pleasing WMF. (I'm not saying that the *Signpost *should go out of its way to be critical, but it should be as independent as realistically possible.)
Pine