Journalists Caught Using Wikipedia as Primary Source - 1,036 Views,
|
Previous Article « Microsoft Issues Wide-Sweeping Bans for Applications in Windows Mobile Market
Read Next Article » Baby Monitors, Microwaves and Wireless TV Found to Jam and Slowdown Wifi
An Irish college student has proven that journalists are using Wikipedia as a primary - and indeed only - source for their stories, without doing any fact checking whatsoever. By inserting and then tracking a fake quote in the Wikipedia entry for French composer Maurice Jarre, who died in March, 22-year old Shane Fitzgerald determined that even such august media outlets as the BBC are susceptible to the “it’s on Wikipedia, it must be true” fallacy. Fitzgerald inserted the fictitious quote, attributed to Maurice Jarre, but actually entirely made up by Fitzgerald himself, the evening that Jarre passed away. “I saw it on breaking news and thought if I was going to do something I should do it quickly. I knew journalists wouldn’t be looking at it until the morning,” explained Fitzgerald. “One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear,” Fitzgerald penned, adding it as a quote to Jarre’s Wikipedia entry. It’s important to understand that at this point in time, the only place that this “quote” existed was inside Fitzgerald’s head, and, then, in the Wikipedia entry in which Jarre had inserted it. Sure enough, around the world obituaries for Jarre included the bogus quote, incuding in newspapers in India, Australia, and Britain (and including British newspapers The Guardian and The London Independent, and on the BBC Music Magazine website. While this was Fitzgerald’s experiment, even he was surprised at how quickly the fake quote spread, and how far. “I didn’t expect it to go that far. I expected it to be in blogs and sites, but on mainstream quality papers? I was very surprised about that,” said Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald eventually contacted the major papers and sites, letting them know that they were attributing a fictitious quote to Jarre. Many, such as The Guardian, the BBC Music Magazine, and the Daily Mail, have since removed the quote; however the quote remains on many other sites. Concluded Fitzgerald, “I don’t think it would have been found out unless I had told them so.”
Follow Anne on Twitter
Friend Anne on Facebook
Journalists Caught Using Wikipedia as Primary Source
Twitter Explained in Plain English
Previous Article « Microsoft Issues Wide-Sweeping Bans for Applications in Windows Mobile Market
Read Next Article » Baby Monitors, Microwaves and Wireless TV Found to Jam and Slowdown Wifi
Read more:
» What You Read on Wikipedia is Often Written by the Subject Themselves, Wikipedia Scanner Reveals
» Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller Sues to Find Out Who Said Mean Things About Him on Wikipedia
» Journalists Use Free Babelfish Online Translator to Query - and Offend - Dutch Dignitary
» “Osama Bin Laden Discovered Dead” CNN Newsflash Really Virus Laden Spam
For additional similar stories check out our archives on Around the World, Gotchas, Society
NOTE: We never, ever, ever will recommend any product or service on this site that we have not regularly used ourselves and do not wholeheartedly believe in. That said, in some cases after being very pleased with a product or service, we may enter into a relationship with the provider of that product or service such that if someone purchases that product or service based on our recommendation, we may get a small payment. Such payments go towards the upkeep of the Internet Patrol.
