[Geeks Are Sexy] Technology News

By Brian Boyko
Contributor, [GAS]

Call Stephen Colbert, whose “Wikiality” has entered reality.

There are a few news stories breaking about people editing Wikipedia - including the CIA, Diebold, and U.S. Congressional Offices.

O’Reilly Media (the techie O’Reilly) has come out with information detailing that Fox News has been changing entries on Wikipedia as well - including one on Al Franken’s case with Bill O’Reilly (the caustic O’Reilly).

So we went ahead and took a look at other changes to Wikipedia allegedly made by the people from the Fox News offices - the changes originating from IP address “12.167.224.228“. (Here’s the DNS lookup for 12.167.224.228.) We’ve done the legwork of poring through all the edits and published a comprehensive list below, omitting corrections of minor errors and clarifications of fact, i.e., the innocuous. The following below are clearly anything but, however.

Edit: From the comments people are leaving, I felt I needed to clarify something. No, Fox News is not the only one out there editing Wikipedia. There have been edits by the CIA, NSA, Dow Chemical, etc., detailed on other sites. I focused on Fox News because it’s what I saw first, it’s what I had time for, and I thought some of the edits were particularly noisome to myself because I’m a journalist.

Furthermore, many people bring up the BBC and NYT edits to the George Bush page. While the BBC editing “wanker” or the NYT editing “jerk jerk jerk” into George Bush’s profile is unbecoming, it is not a gross violation of journalistic ethics. It may be a violation of professional ethics, but not journalistic ones - the key being that those edits were designed to insult and not designed to smear (to present a skewed negative opinion or falsehood that sounds credible as a matter of fact) or to obscure (to attempt to remove information from the public record). No one believes that George Bush’s middle name is Wanker, and “jerk jerk jerk” isn’t even a complete sentence. On the other hand, the Fox News edits were much subtler and went beyond name calling into misinforming, misleading, or obscuring the facts to make it’s own self look better compared to it’s rivals. That is the exact opposite of what a news organization should do, and that’s why I feel that these edits are particularly odious. Your opinion may vary, especially if you believe that civility is a higher good than veracity in a news organization; still, there is no attempt to “ignore” the other half of the story because the other half of the story has - like this half - been covered endlessly.

And yes, I am working on the BBC edits, but unlike Fox, there are much, much more of them, and most of the edits are minor things, usually adding information and correcting spelling errors. (in other words, Fox had a very high “smear to legitimate use” ratio.) Also, my relative unfamiliarity with the Hutton Inquiry’s conclusions, British newscasters and publications, and the sports of Rugby and Cricket mean that BBC edits require more research. This, on top of a 9-5 job, freelance projects and side-projects, means that it will be delayed - and I probably won’t be the first one. Thankfully, other people on the ‘net have tackled the BBC edits and if you’re in a hurry for information, I invite you to head over to them.

List of Fox News Changes to Wikipedia
Found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&limit=500&target=12.167.224.228

(Continued…)

Below, you’ll find changes that were made by IP address 12.167.224.228, which resolves to Fox News. Changes are to the articles “Keith Olbermann”, “Chris Wallace”, “Carl Cameron”, “Brit Hume”, “Shepard Smith”, “Al Franken”, “Brian Wilson”, “CNN”, and “Greta Van Susteren”.

CHANGES TO: “KEITH OLBERMANN”

REMOVED

Ultimately, Olbermann’s dissatisfaction with Bristol contributed to his departure from ESPN in 1997. Even several years after his departure, many people still consider Olbermann to be one of the best anchors that SportsCenter ever had, and his pairing with Dan Patrick the best tandem ever.

In high school, Olbermann compiled an extensive list of first and third base coaches in baseball history. This documentation now sits in the Hall of Fame, and is considered the definitive compendium of first and third base coaches in baseball history.

… mocking O’Reilly’s purported fetish for loofah sponges, as alleged in a sexual harrassment suit against O’Reilly.

According to Dash Riprock of americanpolitics.com, Olbermann “tells the truth, and he does it in a sharp, subtlety stated, but unmistakable style. It’s sad to realize that it is truly such an oddity these days to see someone with those qualities on TV.” [http://www.americanpolitics.com/20030401punditpap.html]

CHANGED
From

On Monday, August 8, 2005, the day following [[Peter Jennings]]’s death from lung cancer, Olbermann revealed on-air that he had had a benign, fibrous tumor removed from the roof of his mouth just ten days earlier. In an explicit and controversial monologue, he attributed his tumor (and the resulting fear and pain) directly to his 27-year habit of smoking pipes and cigars. He vigorously urged his viewers not to wait until they see symptoms to quit. “Do whatever you have to do to stop smoking - now. While it’s easier.” According to [[Don Imus]] on the following morning’s [[Imus In The Morning]] broadcast, that statement nearly got Olbermann fired.

To

On Monday, August 8, 2005, the day following [[Peter Jennings]]’s death from lung cancer, Olbermann revealed on-air that he had had a benign, fibrous tumor removed from the roof of his mouth just ten days earlier. In an explicit and controversial monologue, he attributed his tumor (and the resulting fear and pain) directly to his 27-year habit of smoking pipes and cigars. He was taken to task inthe blogosphere for trying to make the story about himself the day after news veteran Peter Jennigs passed away from lung cancer. According to [[Don Imus]] on the following morning’s [[Imus In The Morning]] broadcast, that statement nearly got Olbermann fired.

From

O’Reilly’s show, ”[[The O'Reilly Factor]]”, airs on the Fox News Channel at the same time as Olbermann’s show on MSNBC, garnering ratings six times higher than Olbermann’s.

To

O’Reilly’s show, ”[[The O'Reilly Factor]]”, airs on the Fox News Channel at the same time as Olbermann’s show on MSNBC, garnering ratings ten times higher than Olbermann’s.

(Keep an eye on this change in particular)
From

Some conservatives feel that Olbermann’s reporting carries a liberal bias.

To

Conservatives feel that Olbermann’s reporting carries a liberal bias.

ADDED

This move was widely ciritcized by the the media and the blogosphere and Olbermann was attacked for making the death of news icon Peter Jennings about himself.

CHANGES TO: “CHRIS WALLACE”

REMOVED

[[Media Matters for America]], a progressive web-based organization that reports and criticizes what it describes as “conservative misinformation in the U.S. media”

[http://mediamatters.org/about_us/ Media Matters], disputed Wallace’s statement. [http://mediamatters.org/items/200609240002 Media Matters] It reviewed “dozens of interviews … with senior Bush aides” and found only one (a 2004 interview with [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Donald Rumsfeld]]) in which Wallace raised the “basic charge that, pre-[[September 11, 2001 attacks|9-11]] … this government, the Bush administration, largely ignored the threat from Al Qaeda,” adding, “Mr. Secretary, it sure sounds like fighting terrorism was not a top priority.” [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115436,00.html FOX News] The organization found no interviews in which Wallace or his predecessor, [[Tony Snow]], had asked a Bush administration official about the treatment of Clarke or about the lack of response to the ”Cole” bombing.

On [[October 15]], Wallace interviewed the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Because he had told Clinton that his questions were prompted in part by emailed requests, some [[Modern American liberalism|liberals]] organized campaigns to email Wallace a request that he ask Rice about the Bush administration’s lack of response to the ”Cole” bombing. One organization, the [[Center for American Progress]], said that 20,000 such emails had been sent. [http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/15/wallace-ignores-emailshttp://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/15/wallace-ignores-emails "Think Progress", October 15, 2006] Nevertheless, Wallace did not ask Rice about the ”Cole” bombing.[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,220948,00.html "Transcript: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on 'FNS'"]

Changes To: “CARL CAMERON”

REMOVED:

Cameron has been criticized as being a partisan Republican in his reporting, often interjecting subjective labels on Democrats in order to attack them. In one segment, for example, Cameron attacked three separate Democrats in a time period of only fifteen seconds, deaming them variously, “fairly typical liberal partisan”, “Angry liberal,” and “extremist”[http://mediamatters.org/items/200501130003].

== Journalistic Fraud ==

Media watchdog groups have documented a number of occassions in which Carl Cameron has fabricated statements by Democratic politicians, seemingly to boost their Republican opponents. Among other quotes, Cameron once claimed that John Kerry labeled [[George W. Bush]] a “warmonger” who intended to create “perpetual war” around the world - no such instance of that criticism ever occurred. In another instance, Cameron fabricated an interview with Kerry in which Kerry referred to Bush as a “Cowboy” and spoke feminently about getting his “nails done”, a more open attempt to humiliate and belittle Kerry, for which Fox News eventually apologized for.[http://mediamatters.org/items/200410040006][http://mediamatters.org/items/200409210009].

CHANGED:

(Ah - Fox didn’t delete the word “some” - they just moved it…)
From

Cameron has been criticized by democrats as being a partisan Republican in his reporting.

To

Cameron has been criticized by some democrats as being a partisan Republican in his reporting.

Changes to “BRIT HUME”

REMOVED:
(CITATIONS)

[http://www.airamericaradio.com/weblogs/alfrankenshow/index.php?/franken/hume_context/]”
* [http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/2004/02/001613.html Honoring Brit Hume dishonors journalism (AlterNet)]
[http://www.wage-slave.org/archives/00000233.html]”
[http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/ma_opinion/article/0%2C071%2CNPDN_14922_2662908%2C00.html The Marcophile: Media's Brit blind spot (Naples, {FL} Daily News)]

Brit Hume’s son, Washington journalist [[Sandy Hume]] was a reporter for The Hill. Sandy Hume broke the story of the aborted 1997 coup against House Speaker Newt Gingrich. In February 1998 Sany Hume committed [[suicide]] by a self inflicted gunshot from a hunting rifle. The [[National Press Club]] honors his memory with the annual Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism.

[[Image:Hume Screenshot.jpg|200x|thumb|A screenshot of the Fox News website that promotes statements of Brit Hume's, some of which opponents charge are factually inaccurate.]]

CHANGED:
From

[[MSNBC]] commentator Keith Olbermann claimed that Hume and FOX News committed “premeditated, historical fraud” in distorting FDR [http://mediamatters.org/items/200502150008]; on Olberman’s show, James Roosevelt, Jr., said that Hume’s “outrageous distortion” of FDR “calls for a retraction, an apology, maybe even a resignation” [http://mediamatters.org/items/200502160003].

To

[[MSNBC]] commentator Keith Olbermann claimed that Hume and FOX News committed “premeditated, historical fraud” in distorting FDR [http://mediamatters.org/items/200502150008] on Olberman’s low-rated cable television program.

(Not only do they plant MMfA with “liberal” but apparently no one taught Fox how to use “a article” properly)
From

…with the criticism led by [[Media Matters for America]], an organization that critiques the press in search of conservative bias and bloopers.

To

…with the criticism led by [[Media Matters for America]], an liberal organization that critiques the press in search of conservative bias and bloopers.

From

Many groups and commentators, including [[Media Matters for America]], and liberal broadcasters [[Al Franken]], and [[Keith Olbermann]], have claimed that Hume distorted Roosevelt’s views.

To

Many groups and commentators, including [[Media Matters for America]], and liberal broadcasters [[Al Franken]], and [[Keith Olbermann]], have claimed that Hume distorted Roosevelt’s views in an attempt to ride Mr. Hume’s coat tails in the ratings race as Mr. Hume hosts the highest rated political program on cable television.

(You could make a case that Sandy Hume, so unlike his father doesn’t deserve to have his sexual orientation “outed” and that’s why Fox removed it. Then again… this is FOX we’re talking about…)
From

On [[February 22]] [[1998]] Brit’s homosexual 28-year-old son [[Sandy Hume (journalist)|Sandy]] was found dead in his [[Arlington, Virginia|Arlington]] apartment. Hume died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

To

On [[February 22]] [[1998]] Brit’s 28-year-old son [[Sandy Hume (journalist)|Sandy]] was found dead in his [[Arlington, Virginia|Arlington]] apartment. Hume died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

From

On the February 3 edition of FOX News’ ”Special Report with Brit Hume”, Hume claimed that [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], the founder of [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], would have endorsed privatization:

To

On the February 3 edition of FOX News’ ”Special Report with Brit Hume”, Hume claimed that [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], the founder of [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], had proposed something similar to the personal accounts offered by President Bush as part of his Social Security reform plan:

(Subtle…)
From

Controversy surrounded Hume when he was awarded the National Press Foundation’s Broadcaster of the Year award in [[2004]]. The head of the [[University of Missouri]]’s Washington journalism program, Geneva Overholser, furiously resigned from the Foundation’s board due to her belief that Hume’s political views are connected to his journalistic work. Past recipients of the award such as National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg have also been criticized for allegedly biased journalism. However, Overholser did not step down over controviersies surrounding liberal award recipients.

To

Controversy surrounded Hume when he was awarded the National Press Foundation’s Broadcaster of the Year award in [[2004]]. The head of the [[University of Missouri]]’s Washington journalism program, Geneva Overholser, foolishly resigned from the Foundation’s board due to her belief that Hume’s political views are connected to his journalistic work. Past recipients of the award such as National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg have also been criticized for allegedly biased journalism. However, Overholser did not step down over controviersies surrounding the liberal award recipients.

From

As a young Washington Post reporter Hume discovered that the [[1972]] [[Republican National Convention]] had been underwritten by [[AT&T]] and that an [[antitrust]] case had been conveniently dropped by the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] White House shortly thereafter. This greatly embarrassed Richard Nixon who then had Hume and his wife and children observed by two [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] agents for several months. The agents nicknamed Hume “eggnog” for his blondish hair and observed his family going about their daily business. This came to light during the [[Gerald Ford|Ford]] administration during congressional hearings. Part of the reason ABC later hired Hume was his self-assured and impressive demeanor during the televised hearings.

To

As a reporter for Jack Anderson’s column, Hume uncovered an internal corporate memo indicating that the [[1972]] [[Republican National Convention]] had been underwritten by [[ITT]] and that, in exchange, an [[antitrust]] case had been conveniently dropped by the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] White House shortly thereafter. Later, Anderson published a series classified documents indicating the Nixon administration, contrary to its public pronouncements, had tipped in favor of Pakistan during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. After those revelations, Anderson and his staff, including Hume, his wife and children were placed under surveillance by the Central Intelligence Agency. The agents code-named Hume “eggnog” and observed his family going about their daily business. This came to light during the [[Gerald Ford|Ford]] administration in Congressional hearings, and as the result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

ADDED:

However, Olbermann has on more than one occasion tried to create controversy in hopes of attaining some of the popularity enjoyed by the targets of his attacks. In this instance, Mr. Hume is the subject of Olbermann’s attack because he anchors the highest rated program in cable news television.

Changes to “SANDY HUME (JOURNALIST)”

CHANGED:
From

In February, 1998, Sandy Hume, the 28-year-old son of [[Fox News]] anchorman [[Brit Hume]], was found dead of a gunshot to the head. At the time, he was covering the U.S. Congress for the magazine [[The Hill]]. Sandy Hume’s official cause of death was suicide, but others question the official story.

To

In February, 1998, Sandy Hume, the 28-year-old son of [[Fox News]] anchorman [[Brit Hume]], was found dead of a gunshot to the head. At the time, he was covering the U.S. Congress for the magazine [[The Hill]]. Sandy Hume’s official cause of death was suicide.

Changes to “SHEPARD SMITH”

REMOVED

==Controversies==

Smith was arrested in Florida in [[November]] [[2000]] for aggravated battery with a motor vehicle. The apparent victim was another reporter. Both Smith and the other reporter were in Florida covering the [[U.S. presidential election, 2000#Florida_election_results|Florida election crisis]] during the [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000 United States presidential election]].

In [[2002]], Smith accidentally used the slang sex term [[blow job]] during a broadcast of his nightly [[FOX Report]], causing himself considerable embarrassment. He’d reportedly meant to refer to pop star [[Jennifer Lopez]]’s neighbors as “more likely to give her a [[curbing|curb job]] than a [[block party]],” but misspoke during the last part. Smith immediately apologized to his viewers, and FOX executives indicated their belief that it was an innocent mistake.

(This was a mug shot of Shepard Smith after an assault charge in 2000)

*[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/dsmithmug1.html 2000 mug shot]

(As if alleged vehicular battery wasn’t enough…)

Shepard Smith appeared as himself in the film “Volcano.”

Changes to “AL FRANKEN”

CHANGED
From

The lawsuit focused a great deal of media attention upon Franken’s book and greatly enhanced its sales. Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the [[National Public Radio]] program ”[[Fresh Air]]” on [[September 3]], [[2003]], Franken said that Fox’s case against him was “literally laughed out of court” and that “wholly (holy) without merit” is a good characterization of Fox News itself.

To

The lawsuit focused a great deal of media attention upon Franken’s book and greatly enhanced its sales. Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the liberal [[National Public Radio]] program ”[[Fresh Air]]” on [[September 3]], [[2003]], Franken said that Fox’s case against him was the best thing to happen to his book sales.

Changest to “BRIAN WILSON (FOX NEWS CORRESPONDANT)
REMOVED:

On April 21, 2005, Wilson presented [[Tom DeLay]]’s own misleading talking points without rebuttal, specifically that he was being targeted by “a left-wing syndicate” (apparently directly quoted from an email DeLay sent to his supporters in the Houston area entitled ‘What the press isn’t telling you,’). Wilson appears to be a poor fact-checker, given that newspapers that endorsed [[George W. Bush]] and prominent [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] had also criticized DeLay. Wilson also left unrebutted DeLay’s misleading charge that the Texas district attorney investigating contributions to his political action committee is “a liberal, a leftist.”[http://mediamatters.org/items/200504210002]

Changes to “CNN”

From

*On [[November 21]], [[2005]] CNN was airing [[Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]]’s speech live from the American Enterprise Institute in Washington - when a large black ‘X’ flashed twice for 1/15th of a second over the vice president’s face. Along with the text: “Transition begins after 5 frames black” appearing below.

To

*On [[November 21]], [[2005]] CNN was airing [[Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]]’s speech live from the American Enterprise Institute in Washington - when a large black ‘X’ flashed twice for 1/7th of a second over the vice president’s face. Along with the text: “Transition begins after 5 frames black” appearing below.

Changes to “GRETA VAN SUSTEREN”
REMOVED:

There was speculation that Van Susteren only got the facelift at Fox News’s urging, often with the implication that the cable network that some satirists call “Foxy News” required attractive female anchors. Van Susteren dismissed these criticisms, saying that she did it for her own self-esteem; she was paraphrased as saying that she couldn’t wait to show everyone her new look at her thirtieth high school reunion.

CHANGED:
From

She has also taken some criticism due to her near non-stop coverage of the [[Natalee Holloway]] case which has increased her ratings 60%.

To

She has also taken some criticism due to her coverage of the [[Natalee Holloway]] case which has increased her ratings.

In Conclusion: There is no doubt that Wikipedia will, by design, have credibility problems. In addition to these, we found other (admittedly minor and less numerous) edits by the IP address that traces to Fox News that add more information to a story, clarify or correct, and manage to do what editors to Wikipedia should do. But the above listed edits are clearly designed not to get to the truth. If I was at Fox News, ostensibly a journalist, my first order of business would be finding out who, what, when, where, why, and how these edits were made. Were they made, as the IP suggests, from Fox’s offices? Was it an intern? A janitor? Rupert? Get to the bottom of the story - and if at the end of it, Fox is at fault, they should seriously apologize - not just to their viewers but to the entire Wikipedia community.