March 14, 2008
MSM vs. Wikipedia
Posted at 10:44 in .
For Wednesday night's Georgetown class, I focused on Wikipedia, as well as a quick overview of internet law (libel, etc.), so this week I've been thinking a lot about the questions of who records history and journalism, that "first rough draft of history." There's always been incredible inherent power in being the person who writes an encyclopedia or a textbook—just ask the Indians, blacks, or any other persecuted minority.
Wikipedia gets a lot of criticism for being unreliable and certainly one of its great challenges is that quality varies a great deal between entries. But Dave Weinberger had a Tweet this morning that made me think:
For lots of info, Wikipedia is as reliable as MSM, except you don't get blamed for citing MSM if the MSM is wrong.
One noteworthy fact: Wikipedia has never been successfully for libel.
