[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia article on [[Santorum (neologism)]]

[Carl (CBM)]

On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 11:43 PM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net> wrote:
> None of the examples you cite are living people.

This reminds me again about a somewhat common misinterpretation of
BLP.  BLP is not really motivated solely by the fact that a person is
alive, To the extent that WP:BLP goes beyond WP:NPOV, it is motivated
by the desire to help people who would otherwise be unable to mount a
response to Wikipedia - people who are barely notable, or just known
for one event - people who cannot call a press conference at the touch
of a button.  These people need us to exercise special discretion
because they are at a relative disadvantage to us.

It is patently unreasonable to claim that a former U.S. sentator, who
is now running for U.S. president, needs us to help him disseminate or
control his message beyond WP:NPOV. Santorum can have multiple major
news sources report any press conference he wants to hold, just by
asking an aide to make some phone calls. So Santorum is fully able to
present his own message to the press and get it published in
mainstream news sources that we can cite. We simply need to maintain
NPOV in our articles by accurately reflecting news coverage. Santorum
does not need us to exercise special discretion, because anything he
wants to put in the media he can put in the media.

This stands in stark contrast to the people whom things like WP:BLP1E
are really intended to protect.  These people cannot simply call a
press conference to respond to our articles.

- Carl