Wikipedia Bans Daily Mail As 'Unreliable' Source (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Wikipedia editors have voted to ban the Daily Mail as a source for the website in all but exceptional circumstances after deeming the news group "generally unreliable." The move is highly unusual for the online encyclopaedia, which rarely puts in place a blanket ban on publications and which still allows links to sources such as Kremlin backed news organization Russia Today, and Fox News, both of which have raised concern among editors. The editors described the arguments for a ban as "centered on the Daily Mail's reputation for poor fact checking, sensationalism and flat-out fabrication." The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia but does not control its editing processes, said in a statement that volunteer editors on English Wikipedia had discussed the reliability of the Mail since at least early 2015. It said: "Based on the requests for comments section [on the reliable sources noticeboard], volunteer editors on English Wikipedia have come to a consensus that the Daily Mail is 'generally unreliable and its use as a reference is to be generally prohibited, especially when other more reliable sources exist. This means that the Daily Mail will generally not be referenced as a 'reliable source' on English Wikipedia, and volunteer editors are encouraged to change existing citations to the Daily Mail to another source deemed reliable by the community. This is consistent with how Wikipedia editors evaluate and use media outlets in general -- with common sense and caution."

Comments

Re:Pot / kettle

[Faluzeer]

And Wikipedia is a reliable source?

Only when compared against the Daily Mail.

Re:Censorship.

[MightyMartian]

There's a delightful exchange from Yes Minister that, while reflecting the major British papers as they were in the late 70s and early 80s, is still relatively true today:

Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices.

Jim Hacker: Don't tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country. The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country. The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it is.

Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?

Bernard Woolley: Sun readers don't care *who* runs the country - as long as she's got big tits.

BBC fake news?

[Anonymous Coward]

And fake news BBC, is listing all the articles on all the terror attacks Trump says they didn't report. Now I could read those links and see with my own eyes, but I voted Republican, and now I have to convince myself that the President I voted for is a Republican, or even a grown up, so instead I'll just stick my fingers in my ears and go la la la la la.

Did he defend Putin again by attacking America? Nope, fake news, la la la la.
Did he block a cyber security bill? Nope la la la la la la, hear no evil.
Did he remove the military from the National Security Council? No, we're still safe, Generals are not needed on a military council, la la la la, fake fake.
Did he attack our allies, and NATO? No, he's a tough president , it must be fake news fake fake fake
Did he leak the names of US spies to Putin, who had them arrested? Fook off, la la la la, I don't want to read any of the details, la la la.

Re:Censorship.

[rwyoder]

There's a delightful exchange from Yes Minister that, while reflecting the major British papers as they were in the late 70s and early 80s, is still relatively true today:

Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices.

Jim Hacker: Don't tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country. The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country. The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it is.

Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?

Bernard Woolley: Sun readers don't care *who* runs the country - as long as she's got big tits.

I'm going through the Netflix DVD's of this right now.
I've watched it in it's entirety once before.
I've never seen more brilliantly written political satire!

Re:Censorship.

[Chrisq]

The Daily Mail is about as reliable as Wikipedia is these days.

To be fair you're not allowed to cite Wikipedia as a source in Wikipedia articles either. ;-)