Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2005-11-07/In the news

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In the news

By Catherine, 7 November 2005

Reuters talks print with Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia's main exposure in the news this week was a Reuters piece by Paul Holmes called "Wikipedia may go to print, says founder". The article ran on October 31, and was reprinted by CNN.com, USA Today, CBC, ABC News Australia, and numerous other newspapers and technology magazines.

Accuracy in South African articles

The South African newspaper Mail & Guardian Online conducted a rating exercise similar to the Guardian's October analysis, using the same article title, "Can You Trust Wikipedia?". The article was published on November 7.

The newspaper asked local experts to rate Wikipedia articles on South African subjects:

Sangomas -- 6/10 "It needs to be placed within a bigger conceptual framework of traditional healers and the current roles need to described";
Media in South Africa -- 2/10 "disappointing";
South Africa national rugby league team and South Africa national rugby union team -- 10/10 "If I were to be hyper-critical, I might say that they are a little too up to date and don't care enough for history";
African National Congress -- 7/10 "the entry was surprisingly accurate (perhaps I have low expectations): one clear factual error only is less than I would have expected";
Braai -- 8/10 "could be a more in-depth description incorporating favourite dishes from various areas";
Boerewors -- 6/10 "not invented by the boers";
South African National Defence Force -- 7/10 "very useful and, surprisingly, factually very correct. There is also an absence of emotional opinions in the presentation of the [historical] facts -- something that you don't always find in South Africa these days";
Economy of South Africa -- 6/10 "a lot of information about the current state of the South African economy and economic policy, but provides little context and is poorly organised";
Telkom -- refused to comment on the article about themselves.

National Public Radio

"Wikipedia, Open Source and the Future of the Web" on NPR's Talk of the Nation on November 2 included interviews with Jimbo Wales, Chris Anderson and Nicholas Carr.

Wikipedia's coverage of conspiracy theories

The article "Ten years after" was published by Haaretz.com on November 3. On the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, Haaretz notes the boom in conspiracy theories and notes those on the English and Hebrew Wikipedias that claim Shimon Peres was behind it.