User:One/Wales interview transcript

KYRA PHILLIPS: Online and under fire web resource, Wikipedia is an internet encyclopedia that anyone can use. The problem is, anyone can contribute to it, also. That’s raising concerns about where the facts are coming from, and if the facts are indeed facts. Journalist John Siegenthaler says that a malicious false biography was published about him on Wikipedia, He’s joining us, live from Nashville, Tennessee, and Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, defends his side, saying it’s accountable, but he’s also making some changes. He joins us from Saint Petersburg, Florida. Guys, great to see you both.

JOHN SIEGENTHALER, SR.: Thank you.

KYRA PHILLIPS: Alright.

JIMMY WALES: Thanks, good to be here.

KYRA PHILLIPS: Well, John, you- you logged on to this site, um, you wanted to see what it had to say about you, what did you discover about yourself?

JOHN SIEGENTHALER, SR.: Well, I was stunned and shocked, and angry to find that, um, Wikipedia for months had listed me as sus- suspect in the assassination of old President Kennedy and attorney general Robert Kennedy, and I had worked in the Kennedy – (stutters) Kennedy administration, and been the assistant to Robert Kennedy, and I was offended by it, and angered by it, and, um, I did what I could to, um, find out about it, then I found out I was on two other sites, and, uh, I read just recently on Wikipedia that I probably am on dozens of other sites, too, that same biography, uh, Mister Wales was very cooperative in taking it down when I finally reached him, uh, five months later, um, but I, uh – I still don’t know whether it’s on those mirror sites.

KYRA PHILLIPS: Well, we – we - we did log on a few minutes ago, and it’s been blocked, and - and Jimmy, when you got this call from John, I – I’m assuming it’s not the first time you’ve had someone call you with concerns about information that’s on this site. What did you say to him, uh, about this information? Because obviously, uh, it wasn’t true?

JIMMY WALES: Oh, yeah, well, our response is immediately to delete it and start looking into it and delete all the old revisions that had that information in it, uh, we’re, uh, just as upset as he is, and, uh, feel that there’s a, there’s a big problem with people, um, internet service providers who, uh, aren’t accountable, they, they won’t, uh, they won’t do anything about malicious customers who abuse our service. So, we’re left to defend ourselves as best as we can.

KYRA PHILLIPS: Now, you do have a general disclaimer on the site, it says that Wikipedia cannot guarantee the validity of the information found here, none of the authors, contributors, or anyone else connected with Wikipedia in any way whatsoever can be responsible for the appearance of any inaccurate or libelous information. (Wikipedia’s disclaimer is then projected on the screen as Kyra Phillips reads it.) Now, you know, you – you see the word Wikipedia, so you think encyclopedia and you think “Oh, okay, this is valid, good information.” But yet, if you look at what happened to John, that’s not the case, so, ah, what are you doing to make sure this doesn’t happen to people like John Siegenthaler, who has an incredible reputation and was far from being associated with any assassination attempt on J.F.K?

JIMMY WALES: Heh, heh, yeah, well, John’s really a hero to us, too, because he’s done a lot of, uh, work for the First Amendment over the years, and that’s one of the things that’s so upsetting about this. Uh, first of all, our disclaimer is really patterned after the disclaimers that you’ll find on any website, if you go to Britannica and read their disclaimer, (the screen shows Wikipedia’s disclaimer once more) the New York Times and read their disclaimer, uh, it’s a very standard type of disclaimer that you have on any website. Um, but what we’re doing is, um, we’re – we’re – we’ve just today, we’ve actually, uh, changed the site a little bit so that, uh, anonymous contributors aren’t able to start new articles, because we feel what really happened in this case was that the article was started, um, and made it – it basically slipped through our new pages patrollers, and, uh, didn’t get caught until, uh, until a viewer notified us months later.

KYRA PHILLIPS: John, -

JIMMY WALES: We’re trying to –

KYRA PHILLIPS: I’m sorry, go ahead.

JIMMY WALES: Go ahead –

KYRA PHILLIPS: Go ahead, Jimmy.

JIMMY WALES: No, we’re just trying to make some minor adjustments here and there, to – to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

KYRA PHILLIPS: Uh, John, do you think that Wikipedia is a good idea, or is this a dangerous trend?

JOHN SEIGENTHALER, SR.: Well, I- you know, I don’t know enough about it, really, to tell you that. I’ve learned a great deal in the recent past. One thing I’m not interested in, in any way, is giving the government more power to regulate any form of media. New media, old media, I’ve – I’ve always thought the best answer to bad speech was better speech, and I hope the column I wrote in USA Today today was better speech than what I found on Wikipedia. The problem that I think, um, uh, is that, first of all the disclaimer, if you read it, says “We’re not accountable”. There’s no other – there’s no other way to explain what that disclaimer says. “We’re not accountable.” (Cut to a split-screen of Seigenthaler and Wales. Wales looks angry.) And with accountability comes credibility, you know? And “Wikipedia is not accountable” ultimately means a marketplace will take care of Wikipedia, I’m concerned, deeply concerned, about the fact that in the five days since, uh, I wrote the article to USA Today, in those five days, they created a new biography. And there were some harmless errors, still is some harmless errors, To be completed