BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Thursday, December 02, 2004
NEWS OF THE WIKI. What is
wiki news? Damned if I know. John Mello tries
to figure it out - and
quotes ignorant me - at TechNewsWorld.
Just to prove that I'm not 100
percent ignorant, wiki news - and an actual demonstration of it,
known, fortuitously enough, as Wikinews
- is news produced on a collective basis using software that allows
people to collaborate on Web pages. As envisioned by Wikinews, the
content will be produced by amateur volunteers. Supposedly it will be
more impartial and fact-oriented than blogs, since other users can
log in and revise stories that they find too attitudinal.
It doesn't sound promising -
especially when you consider that the stories posted so far are
rewrites from mainstream media sources. Also, since everything is
subject to "peer review," how can you call it "news"? "Olds" is more
like it.
Wikinews is associated with the
Wikipedia,
a volunteer-produced free encyclopedia that is rapidly becoming a
reference of choice. Often I'll find stuff in the Wikipedia that's
deeper and that appears to be better than what's available in my
academic subscription to the Encyclopedia
Britannica.
But there's the ever-present
question of who's producing what. With the Britannica, I can
assume that editors put quite a bit of thought into each entry,
starting with which experts should be asked to contribute in any
particular field. With the Wikipedia - well, who knows?
Wiki news - and Wikinews - will be
worth watching, but I've got my doubts.
A PYRRHIC VICTORY. Though
I'm certainly glad that WJAR-TV (Channel 10) investigative reporter
Jim Taricani will probably not have to go
to prison, there's
something galling about the fact that the judge and the special
prosecutor got what they wanted.
Taricani is blameless - it was his
source, defense attorney Joseph Bevilacqua Jr., who finally stepped
forward. But the Taricani case, unfortunately, now stands as an
example of how the government can pressure journalists in order to
obtain the names of confidential sources.
NEW IN THIS WEEK'S
PHOENIX. Why that video of a marine
shooting an insurgent in
Fallujah has already started to fade.
posted at 9:25 AM |
3 comments
|
link
3 Comments:
Taricani never should have been put in the position he was in. But let's remember that each of these cases needs to be evaluated on its own facts, and the most celebrated case - the Valerie Plame affair - is an example of the press abusing its privileges to further a political vendetta without benefiting the public at all. Read more here: http://bluemassgroup.typepad.com/blue_mass_group/2004/11/the_press_and_t.html
Re Wikipedia: This isn't my insight, but one of the best things about the Internet is that everyone has access. One of the worst things about the Internet is that everyone has access. We're going to have this situation for quite a while.
I think Taricani will be going to the joint Dan,unless he gets a home-confinment sentence. I also think Att.Bevilaqua will get off easy. He's the son of a fomer RI Chief Justice.
My question is why was Bevilaqua only subpoenaed days before Jim was going to be sentenced ? Were the Feds trying to spare Bevilaqua from perjuring himself? Or, were they just out to get Jim so why bother with a "liar" .
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
