[WikiEN-l] Conflict of Interest and lobbyists for foreign governments

[Fred Bauder]

Utter contempt for the integrity of Wikipedia.

Fred

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Hello all [mailto:wikipedian51 at gmail.com]
>Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 03:39 PM
>To: wikien-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>Subject: [WikiEN-l] Conflict of Interest and lobbyists for foreign	governments
>
>The Hasbara Fellowship program is a project of the Israeli Foreign Ministry
>which "educates and trains university students to be effective pro-Israel
>activists". The program essentially pays people to engage in promoting
>Israel's point of view online.
>
>Hasbara has said the following about wikipedia:
>
><http://www.israelactivism.com/index.php?mode=newsletter#article11>
>http://www.israelactivism.com/index.php?mode=newsletter#article11
>
>Everyone knows about Wikipedia, a place to go to get the 'real' scoop. How
>often do you use Wikipedia to look up subjects you know little about? Now
>imagine how often other people use Wikipedia to look up subjects related to
>Israel.
>
> Wikipedia is not an objective resource but rather an online encyclopedia
>that any one can edit. The result is a website that is in large part is
>controlled by 'intellectuals' who seek re-write the history of the
>Arab-Israeli conflict. These authors have systematically yet subtly
>rewritten key passages of thousands of Wikipedia entries to portray Israel
>in a negative light.
>
> You have the opportunity to stop this dangerous trend! If you are
>interested in joining a team of Wikipedians to make sure Israel is presented
>fairly and accurately, please contact director at israelactivism.com for
>details!
>-------
>
>This looks like a concerted and funded effort to push a particular political
>POV on wikipedia. If there is a "team" of people paid to edit Israel related
>articles in a POV fashion shouldn't they be required to declare their
>Conflict of Interest? Should employees or other individuals paid by Aish
>HaTorah, which runs the Hasbara Fellowships program on behalf of and with
>funding by Israel's Foreign Ministry, have to declare their COI if they edit
>Israel related articles?
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