back to article Jimbo announces Team Wikipedia: 'Global News Police'

When Henry Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize against the backdrop of the US Air Force's secret bombings in Cambodia, the satirist Tom Lehrer declared that satire had become obsolete. If satire died that day, then Jimmy Wales has dug it up, exhumed the corpse, and is giving it a state funeral. The Wikipedia co-founder …

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  1. Alan J. Wylie

    Team Wikipedia: 'Global News Police'

    WIll the front page look like GeoCities, but when you click through everything is the latest HTML5? And will there be diversionary gratuitous extreme obscenity?

    CensorDecoy

  2. m0rt

    After going to take some tablets to combat the violent reaction to the word 'thinkfluencers', I do have a problem with the news as it stands now. On websites anyway. I am not a fan of the BBC news website, which at one time I trusted on the M0rt Trust Scale of about an 8, it is now about a 4. And the quality of the articles is, well, awful. Just updated for the sake of it, by multiple people at different times. Sometimes even several articles about the same piece.

    The only reason that I welcome the Wikidropthedeaddonkey parody, is that it brings to the forefront that the news as a whole needs a new benchmark of 'The News'.

    So, El Reg, how about forming a news website for the masses? Not the tech(il)literate?

    1. bazza Silver badge

      "So, El Reg, how about forming a news website for the masses? Not the tech(il)literate?"

      I can't for one moment imagine that El Reg would ever want to sully it's current sublime state of being by also becoming a mere peddler of News.

      Apart from anything else, there isn't actually that much News to publish anyway, just a lot of opinions flying around the place. For example, the News surrounding the General Election is simple: i) there will be a General Election, and ii) the result is <insert inevitable Tory landslide here>. Everything else is just people squabbling, most unedifying.

      The idea of WikiWales casting himself into the role of the World's News Gatekeeper is appalling. Just another Yank + favoured cronies seeking to push their view of the world onto everyone else. What we'll be seeing isn't so much reporting of events (there aren't so many of those), but reporting of opinions that fit their own World View, and disparagement of those that don't. <sarcasm>Terrific. Just what we need</sarcasm> (tags for the avoidance of doubt). I hope they've been paying attention to the new laws in Germany, lest they cop a €50m fine or two. And all this from what is supposed to be a charitably funded foundation?

      Journalism, especially political and investigative, is a serious, serious business, and it needs to be done properly. A bunch of self appointed pseudo-dudes being journalistic "gatekeepers" is going to do us all no good whatsoever.

      Here in the UK broadcast News has, by Law, to be politically impartial (just as well given the well known political biases amongst the people who own / run the broadcasters in the UK). It's about time the same applied to online "News", especially the free outlets (Google, Facebook, this new thing from Jim, etc).

      1. m0rt

        "Apart from anything else, there isn't actually that much News to publish anyway, just a lot of opinions flying around the place. "

        So El Reg could, I suppose, create a new tag like Bootnotes, Storage, etc.

        I suggest 'Non-fake news'

        Shouldn't take up a lot then really, if opinions are avoided.

        "Stuff happened in London, today. In other news, Google are evil bastards"

        I think they should expand. I have often wished for a governmental worker/advisor/MP get grilled by Orlowski/Lettuce on policy.

        Never MLF though. Never her. Althought a parody opinion piece by Margaret Road-Kill would be welcomed...

      2. m0rt

        Oh and...

        "<sarcasm>Terrific"

        I can just hear that in the voice of Ford Prefect from the Radio plays...

      3. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Filtering Fake news

    Good luck.

    So if a member of Hezbollah blow up a bus of Israeli soldiers a terrorist attack?

    If the Israeli armed forces bombs a civilian building in Palestine, is that a terrorist attack?

    If North Korea threatens to nuke the US if attacked, is that an aggressive threat?

    If the US threatens to nuke NK if they are attacked, is that an aggressive threat?

    One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. disgruntled yank

      Re: Filtering Fake news

      I think that you have the wrong handle on this. The US sending a carrier group to the vicinity of the Korean peninsula may be an aggression or a measured response. Fox News announcing last week that a carrier group was then approaching North Korea was flat wrong, "fake news" if you will.

    3. DropBear

      Re: Filtering Fake news

      "So if a member of Hezbollah blow up a bus of Israeli soldiers a terrorist attack?"

      And the answer is that it just doesn't matter. The important bit is knowing that yes, "Bomb going off on bus full of Israeli soldiers" did indeed happen. All the rest of qualifying can be done by each to his/her taste - it isn't that part that creates the "fake" in fake news.

      1. Chris G

        Re: Filtering Fake news

        @ DropBear, that is the one thing that no longer happens in any media, mainstream, alternative or any of the trendy outlets that claim to be reporting news.

        Nobody simply reports what happened, it has to be dramatised or slanted to suit some bias, there are probably no more reporters on the planet than you can count on the fingers of one hand, the rest are journalists.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: Filtering Fake news

          "there are probably no more reporters on the planet than you can count on the fingers of one hand, the rest are journalists."

          And not at all of the extinct species, "gentlemen of The Times"

    4. JN

      Re: Filtering Fake news

      Having news organisations with known biases has its advantages. If you read a left-leaning or right-leaning newspaper, you know what to expect. You can read both sides and can mentally compensate for the bias of each. Having named journalists with established track records and known stances on various issues is similarly useful. You know where they're coming from.

      In a semi-crowdsourced news organisation this becomes a lot more difficult. It will be hard to know, for any given contentious issue, which "side" has discovered Wales' new project first, shaping the site's reporting in its own image.

      Wikipedia, at any rate, has more than its fair share of political activists, PR people and social entrepreneurs who studiously keep their identity and affiliations secret, shaping public perceptions under the cover of anonymity (or at least trying to).

      I wonder whether WikiTribune's "volunteers" will protect their identities and affiliations as zealously as Wikipedia's contributors do, and whether the articles will have bylines providing author names like "Darklord" or "Rocketman12".

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Filtering Fake news

        News bias stems from nationalism. It comes from the before time, I saw this in the 1960s/1970s, when a global event happened then the information is altered to make it "more relevant" or localized. Like a plane would crash somewhere other than the US and it had to be qualified with "how many Americans were aboard." Never mind the overall loss, "how does it effect me" seems to be the message. And when it does not effect "me" the Mes turn the channel, and the news outlets respond by giving the mass of idiots what they want. So, in effect, the shittiness of the news is a direct result of responding to the squeaky wheels and advertisers of the world. Two batches of crap humans who are not a source of any real information worth noting, but they keep the money coming in.

        No, we must weed though the garbage to find the donuts. Unless garbage is all you know, then watching Fox News or other wildly biased nut-news is just the thing. In those cases, you can see the influence of advertising, thriving in a feed of nonsense stories to make morons feel good about themselves. The real information of the world is not easily obtained or packaged neatly, or so it seems. And if you only watch TV news, rather than read articles longer than a tweet, you are part of a larger problem.

        1. DiViDeD

          Re: Filtering Fake news

          ".information is altered to make it "more relevant" or localized"

          Ah yes. 'Merthyr man drowns as Titanic sinks' springs to mind

  4. frank ly

    “who stole the custard?”

    Surely it's "who's looking after the custard?"

    1. Rich 11

      Re: “who stole the custard?”

      No, no, it's "Who's looking after the custard itself".

      I can still feel the clip round the ear from my old Latin teacher.

    2. Solarflare

      Re: “who stole the custard?”

      Or more importantly "Why are we talking about custard? I ordered ice cream..."

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Could anyone explain...

    ...how does having Lily Cole on-side give your cause more credibility?

    1. Korev Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Could anyone explain...

      Because she's more credible* than Ms Hilton ->

      *comparatively

      1. Chris G

        Re: Could anyone explain...

        Korev, This article explains why Paris Hilton is way more credible than Lily Cole :

        http://thefreethoughtproject.com/business-genius-numbers-paris-hilton-entrepreneur-donald-trump/

  6. Unep Eurobats

    'No single story ... generated more than 1m engagements'

    You don't have to click through to a fake news story to be influenced by it. We're more subconsciously susceptible than we think. Don't discount the cumulative effect of half-forgotten headlines.

    After skimming my favourite news sites at breakfast I usually consider myself updated on quite a few current events just from having read the home page.

    1. Steve the Cynic

      Re: 'No single story ... generated more than 1m engagements'

      I would suggest that regardless of whether people can be influenced to *change* their beliefs and biases by news, fake or real, they can be influenced to *reinforce* their beliefs and biases.

      Indeed, I would go further, and say that people often seek out opportunities to reinforce their beliefs, and if that means following a click-bait fake news link, well, that's what they do.

  7. Redstone

    Fake News is pretty old..

    ..as Mark Twain pointed out:

    “If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.”

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Re: Fake News is pretty old..

      Apparently, he also said "Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel". I can't see how news organs are going to take kindly to Wikipedia scraping and aggregating all their articles and deleting all their revenue-generating ads.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Trust Jimmy Wales to make decisions for us?

    Jimmy Wales personally decided that my Wikipedia Bio would be deleted, and that no mention of my work should ever appear on Wikipedia. Jimmy himself decided I was not a good scientist, and that was that. This is despite a dozen peer-reviewed papers in PubMed.

    If Jimmy uses the same (lack of) judgement setting up this effort, we will have News, Fake News, And Jimmy's News (which will likely oscillate between the former two as edits proceed)...

    1. Rich 11

      Re: Trust Jimmy Wales to make decisions for us?

      You're right. I just searched for your name on Wikipedia and you aren't there.

    2. Alan_Peery

      Re: Trust Jimmy Wales to make decisions for us?

      Why is a comment like this made as Anonymous Coward? If true, it's neither embarrassing nor likely to be something that couldn't be said because the policies of the person's employer requires clearance first.

      1. sabroni Silver badge

        Re: Why is a comment like this made as Anonymous Coward?

        The only reason i can think of is that it's not true.

      2. Geoffrey W

        Re: Trust Jimmy Wales to make decisions for us?

        It removes from us the option of peer reviewing his comment and his work and therefore being able to judge for ourselves if we agree with Jimmy Wales, or not. It accuses Wales with no means of verifying so the only thing we can safely do in this is to dismiss the claim; unless it agrees with our own opinions and prejudices.

  9. Tony S

    Rewriting "facts"

    “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

    George Orwell

    “What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.”

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    1. deadlockvictim

      G. Orwell

      Those who control the Past, control the Future.

      Those who control the Present, control the Past.

      1. Colabroad

        Re: G. Orwell

        Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

        - Abraham Lincoln

  10. 1Rafayal

    Will professional journalists want to rub shoulders with random members of the public?

    1. m0rt

      Will the public want to rub shoulders with professional journalists?

    2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Will professional journalists want to rub shoulders with random members of the public?

      Depends who is buying the beer/vodka/chardonnay [Delete as appropriate]

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Other fact checkers exist already

    Fullfact.org - UK independent and charitably funded. Generally working on the numbers you hear political parties (and UKIP) use in their policies. Reminds me of a written version of BBC Radio 4 More or Less.

    In the US, factcheck.org seems to be doing similar.

    1. Dr Stephen Jones

      Re: Other fact checkers exist already

      And half the population doesn't trust either.

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Other fact checkers exist already

      Radio 4's More of Less is superb. It's a shame that BBC telly current affairs can't/won't do stuff like that.

      If handled right, news doesn't need to be boring, depressing or without humour. I remember when Radio 5 started Vincent Hanna (of Blackadder the Third election fame) had a 2 hour show late in the evening. He covered news, but a lot of his show was done as long form interviews/discussions with people. Not the kind of Humphreys and Paxman showing off bollocks, but proper interviews where you allow the politicians the time and space to express themselves properly, before questioning them. From which you actually really learn about them and their beliefs and policies. I learnt a lot about Northern Irish politics from him. And there was always time for a bit of humour. As well as time to reflect and be a lot less partisan.

      Andrew Neil's 'This Week' sometimes manages it, but mostly the show tries to do too much in too short a time, and too often becomes partisan - rather than taking a step back. You often need ex-politicians around to help with this - as they don't feel forced to resort to the approved soundbites - and also won't get jumped on by the press for any slip - which can be quoted wildly out of context.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I knew you'd hate this, Andrew, ...

    ...the moment I first heard about it.

    But, the fact is, it's an attempt to fix a big problem. It may fail, but at least he's trying.

    You mention some attempts that publishers could/should try to move away from the "clickbait" problem, but here's the thing... consumers do not trust publishers to do what's best for consumers.

    1. Androgynous Cupboard Silver badge

      Re: I knew you'd hate this, Andrew, ...

      Indeed. I think I said at the time "I wonder what Andrew Orlowski will have to say about this, assuming he survives his apoplectic stroke."

      So my understanding is that "proper journalists" check their sources, verify their facts before their editors let them run the story. That's how it was supposed to work, at least. Then along comes the internet, and suddenly every angry basement dweller can publish an opinion as fact and fairly rapidly it all goes to shit. And now, the solution for this is - more opinions from basement dwellers? I suppose if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

  13. Alister
    Facepalm

    The site will employ professional journalists

    Oh good, are they from Fox News or the Daily Mail, one wonders?

    As far as I know, being a "professional journalist" doesn't necessarily mean the stories produced are either truthful or well researched.

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      I believe the DM only employs columnists who deliver 'opinions' - avoids all that unfortunate business about being held to account for what they write.

  14. retired_in_london

    "One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter."

    Just do what 'Merican Liberals do. Censor all opposing views and label any opposition as "racists or nazis" so their viewpoints can be easily dissmissed.

  15. retired_in_london

    "In the US, factcheck.org seems to be doing similar."

    Factcheck is about as unbiased as RT News and Fox News. It's basically the American version of their propaganda tool.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just as important...

    Quis custodiet ipsos Register

    1. DropBear
      Meh

      Oh, no need. The predictably scathing coverage of certain types of news has been incredibly reliable.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Wikinews

    So will Wikitribune be competing with Wikinews for volunteers who want to work for nothing on a news wiki?

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I must say it's absolutely fantastic to see Andrew's one-man crusade against Wikipedia and Jimbo Wales continue. Who else will protect us from this globe-threatening insanity?

    1. sabroni Silver badge

      Anonymous internet smart arses? At least Andrew had the balls to put a name to his opinion. AC why exactly?

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