Members of the local press have been leaving their fingerprints on Wikipedia, too
Numerous websites, traditional media outlets, and blogs have been buzzing recently about the new WikiScanner tool that lets you look up "anonymous wikipedia edits from interesting organizations". So to try it out (just for fun) I started plugging in the names of local media outlets. I started with the Seattle Times.
The results showed that there was one Seattle Times IP address with 96 associated edits. I selected it and saw a number of interesting changes to various articles, including this one made July 26th, 2005 to the Seattle, Washington article. This paragraph here:
Another edit that stood out at first was made to the article on Darcy Burner, but it was only a minor one, changing the name of a reporter associated with an article. It was made on February 23rd, 2007.
This reference:
(Given the number of edits made over time, I assume the individual responsible works at the Times, and was not simply modifying Wikipedia using its network).
The folks who run the Seattle Times shouldn't feel too bad: they've got company! A search on Fisher Broadcasting turned up three edits from the company's Yakima office. One was a change in a technical term (VHF to UHF) to the KIMA TV article, but the other two were related...and more interesting.
First was this addition to the Yakima, Washington article, made October 24th, 2005, to the "external links" section of the article:
A couple folks from Seattle's Fisher office have apparently edited articles as well. Here's a change made to the end of one the paragraphs in the KOMO AM article (Fisher owns both KOMO Television and Radio):
Another series of edits were made to the article on KGRG, Green River College's community radio station, including this one on May 18th, 2007. This:
Erica C. Barnett had a post on SLOG yesterday about WikiScanner, entitled "Fun With Wikipedia, City Hall Edition."
Funny she didn't think of mentioning any of the fifty five edits associated with IP addresses on The Stranger's network, including over a dozen on the Charles Mudede article (Charles writes for The Stranger, and frequently posts on SLOG). There are also edits to the articles about Dan Savage and The Stranger.
I should mention I spent a good fifteen to twenty minutes searching for potential edits made by people using the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's network, but found no matches. If you search and find a match for the P-I, leave a comment in the thread.
All the edits I've mentioned in this post appear to be edits from individuals at work using networks belonging to their employers - media outlets all. Even so, out of respect for our online integrity policy, I haven't included any IP addresses in this post, or attempted to speculate on the identities of the individuals. If you want to go look at the edits for yourself, you can run your own searches.
The results showed that there was one Seattle Times IP address with 96 associated edits. I selected it and saw a number of interesting changes to various articles, including this one made July 26th, 2005 to the Seattle, Washington article. This paragraph here:
Seattle's leading newspapers are the daily ''[[Seattle Times]]'' and ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]''; they share their advertising and business departments under a [[Joint Operating Agreement]], which ([[as of 2004]]) the ''Times'' is seeking to terminate....was changed to this (changes in bold):
Seattle's leading newspapers are the daily ''[[Seattle Times]]'' and ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]''; they share their advertising and business departments under a [[Joint Operating Agreement]], which ([[as of 2004]]) the ''Times'' is seeking to terminate or renegotiate.Interesting. So somebody from the Times wanted to send the message - even back in 2005 - that its ownership (the Blethen Family) was willing to continue the JOA albeit after some restructuring.
Another edit that stood out at first was made to the article on Darcy Burner, but it was only a minor one, changing the name of a reporter associated with an article. It was made on February 23rd, 2007.
This reference:
*[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/... Political novice takes on GOP's Reichert] Ashley Bach ''[[Seattle Times]]'', May 16, 2006was changed to this:
*[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/... Political novice takes on GOP's Reichert] Jonathan Martin ''[[Seattle Times]]'', May 16, 2006This was inserted into the Bellevue, Washington article, on January 3rd, 2006:
*[[Bill Gates actually lives in Medina, WA, a separate, incorporated city next door to Bellevue. He does not live in Bellevue]]There are several edits to the "Seattle Times" article itself that are shown as coming from this address. Two are minor - one corrects a date and the other the name of an individual - but a third is not. On June 19th, 2007, this section was completely removed from the "Seattle Times" Wikipedia article:
===Letters to the Editor===Hm...wonder why that got deleted? Perhaps the paragraph could be judged to be inappropriate for the article, but was it appropriate for someone who works at the Seattle Times to have deleted it?
The paper rarely publishes letters that criticize the Times' own editorials or the editorials written by individuals, as is most other major newspapers. This is in contrast to the stated policy: "The Seattle Times always tries to give preference to the paper's critics in choosing letters to be published. Opinions that differ from those presented elsewhere on the editorial and opinion pages are also given priority."
(Given the number of edits made over time, I assume the individual responsible works at the Times, and was not simply modifying Wikipedia using its network).
The folks who run the Seattle Times shouldn't feel too bad: they've got company! A search on Fisher Broadcasting turned up three edits from the company's Yakima office. One was a change in a technical term (VHF to UHF) to the KIMA TV article, but the other two were related...and more interesting.
First was this addition to the Yakima, Washington article, made October 24th, 2005, to the "external links" section of the article:
*[http://www.kimatv.com, the area's television news leader]Seconds later, it was revised again, to read:
*[http://www.kimatv.com/ KIMA-TV, the area's television news leader]I had a good chuckle when I saw that. Every TV station likes to think of itself as the area's "news leader" by one measurement or another.
A couple folks from Seattle's Fisher office have apparently edited articles as well. Here's a change made to the end of one the paragraphs in the KOMO AM article (Fisher owns both KOMO Television and Radio):
To shore up the surrounding broadcast schedule, KOMO dropped its talk shows and became an [[All-news radio|all-news]] station with reports from an enlarged radio news staff and material from KOMO-TV newscasts. Some notable anchors include Seattle-legend Bill Yeend, Manda Factor, Eric Slocum (who formerly anchored KOMO TV's weekend newscasts), and Lisa Brooks. Also, new radio superstar Kristin Hanes. Plus dont forget the very talented Sue Romero.The two sentences are actually different edits, made one month apart (the first was August 12th, 2006, and the second was September 13th, 2006).
Another series of edits were made to the article on KGRG, Green River College's community radio station, including this one on May 18th, 2007. This:
In September 2006, KENU flipped from its Electronica format '''Pulse 1330''' to [[College Alternative Gold]] as '''KGRG1''' playing tracks that were formerally played on legendary sister station KGRG in the 80s and early 90's. Station management felt the EDM format had peaked in listenership and GRCC student involvement. General Manager, Tom Krause, was against the change but not changing the format would result in the class being dissolved. Tom Krause waited outside as [[Charlie Harger]] deleted the Pulse 1330 playlist and set the station to stunting, airing a seemingly endless repeat of [[Nirvana]]'s ''Smells Like Teen Spirit''. KGRG1 launched the new format with [[The Ramones]]. The pairing of "The Alternative Past" 1330 AM KGRG1 and "Today's Rock" 89.9 FM [[KGRG (FM)|KGRG]] provides a unique window into 30 years, and counting, of college underground alternative rock, though the Classic Alternative format would have worked better as a specialty show on KGRG-FM.http://www.greenriver.edu/TheCurrent/TheCurrent101306.pdfwas changed to this:
In September 2006, KENU flipped from its Electronica format '''Pulse 1330''' to [[College Alternative Gold]] as '''KGRG1''' playing tracks that were formerally played on legendary sister station KGRG in the 80s and early 90's. Station management felt the EDM format had peaked in listenership and GRCC student involvement. KGRG1 launched the new format with [[The Ramones]]. The pairing of "The Alternative Past" 1330 AM KGRG1 and "Today's Rock" 89.9 FM [[KGRG (FM)|KGRG]] provides a unique window into 30 years, and counting, of college underground alternative rock.and this paragraph was removed completely:
Many people are hoping for a return of the dance format. Meanwhile, as a tribute to Pulse 1330, the format was resurrected as an internet radio station operated by [[Surge Radio]], [[WDOS-FM]], and several former fans of Pulse 1330.That's only the tip of the Fisher iceberg.
Erica C. Barnett had a post on SLOG yesterday about WikiScanner, entitled "Fun With Wikipedia, City Hall Edition."
Funny she didn't think of mentioning any of the fifty five edits associated with IP addresses on The Stranger's network, including over a dozen on the Charles Mudede article (Charles writes for The Stranger, and frequently posts on SLOG). There are also edits to the articles about Dan Savage and The Stranger.
I should mention I spent a good fifteen to twenty minutes searching for potential edits made by people using the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's network, but found no matches. If you search and find a match for the P-I, leave a comment in the thread.
All the edits I've mentioned in this post appear to be edits from individuals at work using networks belonging to their employers - media outlets all. Even so, out of respect for our online integrity policy, I haven't included any IP addresses in this post, or attempted to speculate on the identities of the individuals. If you want to go look at the edits for yourself, you can run your own searches.
