Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls
Journalists who use Wikipedia as a source should probably check the citations – Wikipedia insists on them. Was The Big Chill ever really named Wanky Balls Festival? Or is it just humour? Social Media runs amok! Online Communities tell fibs!
Every so often newspapers find out what we already know – that human beings take their main course of facts with a side dish of irony, humour and irreverency. The renaming of the concert “The Big Chill” from “The Wanky Balls Festival” should probably have set off warning bells in the mind of the editor if not the journalist. Ah well. Live and Learn.
From TheBitterWallet:
It won’t surprise you that Big Chill was never called Wanky Balls, Sweaty Nads, Greasy Schlong or anything else for that matter because you see, the bone idle newsrag decided to believe something that was written on a Wikipedia page about the event (screengrab here).
We think you lot should now see this as a challenge to add horsepiss facts to Wikipedia pages before a prominent event is due to receive coverage, to see if you can get them published. Send us the clippings, of course.
No wonder newspapers hate us (by us I mean “readers”, otherwise known as wikipedians, bloggers, social media creators/distributors).
The Independent is a British newspaper published by Alexander Lebedev‘s Independent Print Limited. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. Originally a broadsheet newspaper, since 2003 it has been published in a tabloid format. The Independent is regarded as leaning to the left politically,[2] although it has not affiliated itself to any political party and a range of views can be found on its editorial and comment pages.
The paper had a certified average daily circulation of 183,547 copies in February 2010, down 10.88% from the previous year
From Wikipedia so may or may not be true.
Good thing it’s not from Murdoch’s stable, behind the paywall. I’d be sued for copyright for reporting on a pay-for article ripped from Wikipedia. ^.^
Newspaper gets caught dipping hand in the wikipedia jar http://bit.ly/91veit Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls #WotsFactChecking ?
RT @SilkCharm: Newspaper gets caught dipping hand in the wikipedia jar http://bit.ly/91veit Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls #WotsFactChecking ?
RT @SilkCharm: Newspaper gets caught dipping hand in the wikipedia jar http://bit.ly/91veit Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls #WotsFactChecking ?
RT @SilkCharm: Newspaper gets caught dipping hand in the wikipedia jar http://bit.ly/91veit Journalism and Wikipedia –
RT @SilkCharm: Newspaper gets caught dipping hand in the wikipedia jar http://bit.ly/91veit Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls #WotsFactChecking ?
Ah the perils of using Wikipedia as a source. "Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls" http://bit.ly/alBjYm from @silkcharm
Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls: Every so often newspapers find out what we already know – that human being… http://bit.ly/bavfnA
RT @SilkCharm: Newspaper gets caught dipping hand in the wikipedia jar http://bit.ly/91veit Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls
“We think you lot should now see this as a challenge to add horsepiss facts to Wikipedia pages before a prominent event is due to receive coverage, to see if you can get them published. Send us the clippings, of course.”
Seriously? We’re encouraging people to pollute our media and online info even more than they are currently? No wonder online research is rapidly losing credibility if we who should know better are already lighting the fire. And we should be the ones fighting to protect the value of such things.
Sure, the media is an ass for printing information that more diligent fact-checking could have revealed as false, but that doesn’t give anyone else a licence to make the situation worse.
Never mind the poor average consumer/reader who won’t necessarily be aware of the fun and games going on.
I now prepare myself for the inevitable kickback from people calling me too ‘precious’ and humourless. 😉
Journalism and Wikipedia – Wanky Balls http://bit.ly/bnhSwM very funny and not all that surprising.
Want to ruin your journalistic cred? Just rely on Wikipedia and voila!, you have 'wanky balls': http://tinyurl.com/34g935z #346class10
just a little FYI – you wouldn’t be sued for copyright infringement if it was behind the paywall. it actually has no bearing on copyright. both are covered by fair dealing laws.
See http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s42.html