Olberman's Wikipedia Report

On an episode of "Countdown with Keith Olberman," Olberman discusses the story of how Wikipedia, which is a user driven information site that anyone can edit, can be tweaked and modified in accordance with nefarious purposes by specific people and/or companies.

Apparently, someone figured out how to track who edits particular Wikipedia pages and something interesting was discovered- the page on the Exxon Valdeez Oil Spill was edited by.... someone at a computer at Exxon. A page on some Presidents were tweaked by someone from the headquarters of the CIA. Olberman showcased another example of his very own Wikipedia page being edited by someone by his "enemies" at the Fox News headquarters. All of the pages were planted with information that is either positive (the Exxon people putting positive spin on the Oil Spill,) or negative (someone at Fox writing something critical of Olberman).

This is probably something we should all be wary about but not worry over. Wikipedia changes enough and is fact checked enough to be protected in many aspects by wrong information. It's not like the Exxon people can change the history of the spill... or the Fox people making the public critical of Olberman just by using a paltry Wiki page. The truth will always prevail in these instances and if something seems amiss on Wikipedia, it probably is. Also, by now the public knows that Wikipedia may not be the source for 100 percent correct information, and if they wanted to double check something they can always back it up by looking on another site/book/encyclopedia etc.

Lastly, it's not clear who at these companies headquarters are editing the pages. It could be a public relations guy, or it could be some random intern goofing around. There's really no way to know- but I can almost guarantee that editing Wikipedia pages are not the first thing on Exxon's mind and/or mission.

Thanks!