Previous |
Next |
January 30, 2006, 02:03 PM ET
Real-Time Revisionism
When Oscar Wilde quipped that "the one duty we owe history is to rewrite it," it's doubtful he had something like this in mind.
Staffers for Martin T. Meehan, a Democratic representative from Massachusetts, have admitted that they toyed with a Wikipedia entry about Mr. Meehan. The article had made reference to Mr. Meehan's war chest, the largest in the House, and to his pledge to serve only eight years, which the representative has since revoked.
The edited version, though, ran twice as long and often resembled a piece of campaign boilerplate:
Meehan was elected to Congress in 1992 on a plan to eliminate the deficit. His fiscally responsible voting record since then has earned him praise from citizen watchdog groups. He was re-elected by a large margin in 2004.
Wikipedia officials deleted the alterations, and they're now investigating all politically-themed posts made from computers in the Capitol building.
Several senators' Wikipedia entries -- including Conrad Burns, Robert C. Byrd, and Norm Coleman -- have been hijacked briefly by political polemic. Many of the controversial edits to those articles have been simple acts of vandalism. But alterations like the ones made by Mr. Meehan's staffers could be more damaging to Wikipedia, researchers say, because they demonstrate how easily special-interest groups could temporarily delete accurate information from the public record. (Lowell Sun)
Categories: Research
Add Your Comment
Commenting is closed.