Wikipedia Accountability Complaints

Posted on December 1, 2005

One of the potential problems with Wikipedia, a user-created encyclopedia, is that the information on its only as reliable as the people who enter and update it. If you recall the L.A. Times tried a Wikitorial feature that was immediately spammed and invalidated. Wikipedia is now facing complaints that some of its biographies are inaccurate. A USA Today article says that John Seigenthaler Sr. claims his biography is inaccurate.

I have no idea whose sick mind conceived the false, malicious "biography" that appeared under my name for 132 days on Wikipedia, the popular, online, free encyclopedia whose authors are unknown and virtually untraceable. There was more:

"John Seigenthaler moved to the Soviet Union in 1971, and returned to the United States in 1984," Wikipedia said. "He started one of the country's largest public relations firms shortly thereafter."

At age 78, I thought I was beyond surprise or hurt at anything negative said about me. I was wrong. One sentence in the biography was true. I was Robert Kennedy's administrative assistant in the early 1960s. I also was his pallbearer. It was mind-boggling when my son, John Seigenthaler, journalist with NBC News, phoned later to say he found the same scurrilous text on Reference.com and Answers.com.

I had heard for weeks from teachers, journalists and historians about "the wonderful world of Wikipedia," where millions of people worldwide visit daily for quick reference "facts," composed and posted by people with no special expertise or knowledge � and sometimes by people with malice.

At my request, executives of the three websites now have removed the false content about me. But they don't know, and can't find out, who wrote the toxic sentences.

One of the problems with Wikipedia data is that when it is wrong it also surfaces later in blogs or content databases. Search Engine Watch has more on Wikipedia's problems including information about another person, Daniel Brandt, who has Wikipedia bio complaints. Brandt even launched a website to help point out Wikipedia inaccuracies.

More from HowToWeb