Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 18, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Another revelation joins the Wikipedia scandals that have repeatedly been reported on for several months. The British public-service broadcaster BBC has also ‘beautified’ critical entries in the online encyclopaedia, the newspaper “The Independent” reports according to pressetext. Other influential bodies such as the Vatican, the CIA, various companies and British ministries have also edited articles that concern themselves.
Originating from the BBC, an English Wikipedia article entitled “Criticism of the BBC” was rewritten and toned down. The accusation that the BBC had lost touch with large sections of the population and would censor people whom the company did not like was replaced with a short paragraph that merely stated that the article dealt with the subject of impartiality. Regarding these accusations, a BBC spokesman said that employees should use the Internet, but in a manner consistent with the values of diligence and objectivity.
Only recently has the Wikiscanner program by US computer expert Virgil Griffith made it possible to trace changes in the open-source project through the IP address. It showed that some entries are also changed by the very organisations discussed in them. Criticism is often toned down in the process, but sometimes only errors are corrected, which indeed corresponds to the original purpose of the online reference work.
