On 8/2/06, Steve Bennett <stevagewp(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 8/2/06, Anthony <wikilegal(a)inbox.org> wrote:
Anyway, I'm kind of surprised he didn't
mention something to Wikimedia
warning it before broadcasting that segment.
Don't forget the prevailing attitude is "Wikimedia is a website where
random people write random things" - there is no understanding of a
Wikipedia community, much less a Wikimedia that oversees things.
Actually I'd say that is more the reality, and the common
misunderstanding is that all of Wikipedia is a work of a small
organized group (like say a traditional newspaper). Thus you get
headlines that Wikipedia is confused about Ken Lay's death, as though
the differing accounts are being written by the same person.
It would be like expecting someone to warn a
noticeboard before
telling your friends to stick notices all over it.
No, I think this is a little different. In journalism there is a well
recognized principle that when you write a story about someone you
should contact them to hear their viewpoint. This is why you often
see a line in stories about "[whoever] could not be reached for
comment". Now Colbert isn't a journalist, certainly not a traditional
one as his show is basically a farce, but I would hope he knows who
Jimmy Wales is and would be intelligent enough to contact him or
someone else at Wikimedia before doing a segment on it.
Anthony