Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, recently caused a stir when he declared he would use Wikipedia to decide which media outlets are “government funded.”
Musk made his comments in response to a tweet from an account belonging to the Forum of Russian Journalists, which claimed that media outlets like Reuters, ABC, and NBC were “government funded.” Musk responded, “RU state media? Check Wikipedia for true answer.”
The tweet sparked an immediate debate between modern media and tech industry leaders, who argued that using Wikipedia as a source for determining a news outlet’s factual accuracy, or whether it is “government funded,” is not a reliable way to get an accurate answer.
Wikipedia is an open source website, meaning anyone can edit it or write new entries, and entries are not overseen by a professional editor. As a result, there is potential for inaccurate or even incomplete information to be posted. This is especially true when it comes to determining whether a news outlet is “government funded.” Many news outlets have complex funding arrangements that often contain multiple sources, and these arrangements can be difficult to accurately summarize in a Wikipedia entry.
For their part, Wikipedia editors have been quick to point out that the website’s entries are not intended to be used as a reliable source of info. This fact has been echoed by other tech industry experts, who have argued that there are far more reliable sources of information on the subject.
For example, news outlets often provide detailed information about their sources of funding, and there are several professional organizations whose mission is to track and archive this information. Using these professional sources can provide a much more accurate answer as to whether a news outlet is “government funded.”
In any case, it appears that Elon Musk’s use of Wikipedia to determine government-funding of media outlets has sparked a larger conversation about the reliability of the website as a source of news. While it is true that Wikipedia can be a useful source of information, it is important to remember that the entries in the website are not overseen by a professional editor, and should not be relied upon as a sole source of fact-checking.
Hey Subscribe to our newsletter for more articles like this directly to your email.