Full Version: Daily Mirror trapped in Wikicirclejerk
Ah, my former employers up to their usual tricks.
It goes on and always has, it's just that Wikipedia has made it easier and riskier. We used to have sheets and sheets of paper listing obscure facts and quirky things, whereas now they turn to Wikipedia.
For example, I could have a sheet in front of me headed "Celtic Football Club" and it would have things such as "The Bhoys, play at Celtic Park/Parkhead, won the European Cup in 1967 with all players born within x miles of the ground, founded by Brother Walfrid in 1888 as a charitable institution..." and so on.
It's also feasible that the sub-editor laying out the page added the Wikipedia bits in, if they were short of copy to fill as they wanted, but that's doubtful.
What this does show is one of the basic facts of journalism, and the one PR people exploit. A journalist, especially in the area of sport, is a naturally lazy person and likes to be spoon-fed quotes and facts. Wikipedia makes it easier to be lazy.
It goes on and always has, it's just that Wikipedia has made it easier and riskier. We used to have sheets and sheets of paper listing obscure facts and quirky things, whereas now they turn to Wikipedia.
For example, I could have a sheet in front of me headed "Celtic Football Club" and it would have things such as "The Bhoys, play at Celtic Park/Parkhead, won the European Cup in 1967 with all players born within x miles of the ground, founded by Brother Walfrid in 1888 as a charitable institution..." and so on.
It's also feasible that the sub-editor laying out the page added the Wikipedia bits in, if they were short of copy to fill as they wanted, but that's doubtful.
What this does show is one of the basic facts of journalism, and the one PR people exploit. A journalist, especially in the area of sport, is a naturally lazy person and likes to be spoon-fed quotes and facts. Wikipedia makes it easier to be lazy.
I thought this seemed familiar. A quick search found
http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/tag/david-anderson
Posted: September 19th, 2008 by Ryan Bailey.
Then I found it had already been discussed here.
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showt...&st=0&p=130628&
http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/tag/david-anderson
Posted: September 19th, 2008 by Ryan Bailey.
Then I found it had already been discussed here.
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showt...&st=0&p=130628&
QUOTE
After godpants admitted his little prank and his story turned up in Private Eye, the Zany Ones bit was removed from Wikipedia's article. But in a shining example of the twisted logic that governs this free encyclopedia/worldwide cult, the nonsense was reinstated - with David Anderson's UEFA Cup preview cited as a source.
Priceless.Ah Wikipedia, if you didn't already exist, we'd have to raise the Marx Bros. from the grave to invent you.
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