Wikipedia Seigenthaler biography incident

In May 2005, an unregistered editor posted a hoax article onto Wikipedia about journalist John Seigenthaler.^[1] The article falsely stated that Seigenthaler had been a suspect in the assassinations of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

After the hoax was discovered and corrected later in September, Seigenthaler, a friend and aide to Robert Kennedy, wrote in USA Today that the article was "Internet character assassination".^[2]

The incident raised questions about the reliability of Wikipedia and other websites with user-generated content that lack the legal accountability of traditional newspapers and published materials.^[3] In a December 13, 2005, interview,^[4] co-founder Jimmy Wales expressed his support for Wikipedia policy allowing articles to be edited by unregistered users, but announced plans to roll back their article creation privileges as part of a vandalism-control strategy.^[4] The incident ultimately led Wikipedia to introduce stricter referencing requirements for biographies of living people.

^ Cohen, Noam (August 24, 2009). "Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
^ Seigenthaler, John (November 29, 2005). "A false Wikipedia 'biography'". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 28, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
^ "The State of the News Media 2006". The Project for Excellence in Journalism. September 14, 2009. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016.
^ ^a ^b Helm, Burt (December 13, 2005). "Wikipedia: "A Work in Progress"". BusinessWeek Online. Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2013.

[1] Cohen, Noam (August 24, 2009). "Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.

[Seigenthaler2005-2] Seigenthaler, John (November 29, 2005). "A false Wikipedia 'biography'". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 28, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2013.

[3] "The State of the News Media 2006". The Project for Excellence in Journalism. September 14, 2009. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016.

[Helm-4] Helm, Burt (December 13, 2005). "Wikipedia: "A Work in Progress"". BusinessWeek Online. Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2013.

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