If you're a student or a journalist under the age of 40, chances are you've been guilty of turning to Wikipedia for a quick fact every now and again -- even though you've been warned countless times about the unreliability of "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit" by every sensible mentor you've ever had.
The following cautionary tale may shake you of the reflex.
When Manchester City drew AC Omonia in the first round of the UEFA Cup three weeks ago today, someone took the opportunity to have some fun with the Wikipedia page of the little-known team from Cyprus. The anonymous prankster made the following additions to the "Fans" section:
A small but loyal group of fans are lovingly called "The Zany Ones" -- they like to wear hats made from discarded shoes and have a song about a little potato. They are known to keep their season tickets in the oven for safekeeping.
Fast forward to yesterday. The Daily Mirror, the newspaper with the third-highest circulation in the United Kingdom, ran a match preview by David Anderson in their print and online editons which included the following bit of information about Omonia:
Despite City's raised profile, they must make do with the UEFA Cup this season and Hughes will not tolerate any slip-ups against the Cypriot side, whose fans are known as the 'Zany Ones' and wear hats made from shoes.
Colorful, if only it were true. And the lazy journalism doesn't end there. In today's post-match report, Anderson made another reference to "the Zany Ones" -- even though the culprit responsible came clean yesterday in this e-mail to the author and his editor:
Dear David (and could the mirrornews email please be forwarded to the sport/football editor),
Thank you for your article in today's Mirror (18th September 2008) about Omonia Nicosia. The bit I enjoyed most was the following paragraph -
"Despite City's raised profile, they must make do with the UEFA Cup this season and Hughes will not tolerate any slip-ups against the Cypriot side, whose fans are known as the 'Zany Ones' and wear hats made from shoes.".
Why? Well, shortly after the draw was made, a friend and I made a few alterations to the Wikipedia page for Omonia. The "Zany Ones", "hats made from discarded shoes" and the "song about a little potato" are, as you may have discovered in Nicosia, completely fabricated.
The clues were there in the rest of the article.
They have a new sponsor - Natasha Kaplinsky - and their former players include Jean Claude Van Damme and Richard Clayderman. My favourite is in the Board of Directors section...
# Governor of Football: Nikos Charalambous
# Governor of Basketball: Petros Souppouris
# Governor of Volleyball: Photos Ioannou
# Governor of Hitlersball: Albert Hall
I hope you take this in the spirit it was meant, and hope this reminds you not to trust everything you read on Wikipedia.
Any donations to our Friday beer fund would be most welcome. Perhaps your editor would like to contribute your fee for the article, as you evidently didn't do any fact checking.
Thank you,
*myname*
The lesson for you corner-cutting students and aspiring journos: Check your facts and your e-mail -- in that order -- lest ye get punk'd.
Hilary Rhoda
Daniella Sarahyba
Back in Time: July 3
Manny Being Manny
Comments (18) Add A Comment
That's pretty funny. Wikipedia, though, is generally very accurate. It is checked against real encyclopedias. Sometimes, though, this does happen.
wtnelson = Big Chief
Fort Collins , CO
Total Comments (3501)
Funny stuff.
And "lazy journalism" is certainly the right words for this.
Hyped78
Lisbon, Portugal, EU
Total Comments (6888)
that is excellent. nothing like a good innocent prank to make some one look like a donkey. embarrassing
tommy_knockerz
Vienna , VA
Total Comments (27)
Fantastic. I love it.
chalklounge #10
New York, NY
Total Comments (1094)
They should fire the journalist and hire the prankster
fvkasm2x
Vancouver, BC
Total Comments (632)
Well, they should at least fire the journalist.
Omahan
Omaha , NE
Total Comments (11)
That's funny. I can guarantee, at least 75% of journalists have turned to Wikipedia for some facts every now and then.
PackersLP21
Titletown, WI
Total Comments (14582)
Sounds an awful lot like how the Republicans give thier info. Thier pull things out of thier Arse and then retract them 3 hours later.
Lazymike97
Saint Paul , MN
Total Comments (638)
Don't want to turn this into a political discussion, because I am not even american, but...
I am not a liberal, but it's tough for me to see how the GOP distorts the truth so much (as in: they lie).
Hyped78
Lisbon, Portugal, EU
Total Comments (6888)
I keep my shoes in the oven and my valuables in the dishwasher and I can hum OLAY>>>OLAY>>>>OLAY
Pau Rosa
Total Comments (29)
actually-one should never count on Wikipedia-and this is only ONE example! I cannot tell you how many times my writing students ask if they can use Wikipedia as a source and the answer will always be a resounding NOOO!!!
steve_nashseb1977
Austin , TX
Total Comments (8)
Truth is, Wiki is often very accurate. Readers should be wary of obscure references, but it often is factual and very informative.
JayhawkRock
Lawrence, KS
Total Comments (245)
amazingly cypriot ans, who show up traditionally on uniwheeled motorcyles and often tattoo pictures of their pets on their chests, were not offended, and considered shoe hats after the story came out. there was grumbling prior to the article that using discarded speaker boxes as helmets was making most very uncomfortable, and that the shoe idea may not be so bad.
allsolved
Mukilteo , WA
Total Comments (4)
I love wikipedia. It's like Democracy for knowledge.
Jersey Bob
Jackson, NJ
Total Comments (137)
Board of directors
* President: Jimmy Savile
I would suggest that the president of Cyprus football (soccer) team would not be a 80 plus year old DJ from Leeds.
shades846
Total Comments (29)
Hyped- Live in this country for a bit, and you would find out. COUNTLESS examples. As you said without it gettting too political, Mr. McCain said the other day"the fundementals of our economy are strong" Literally 3 hours later "the fundementals of our economy are at Risk" I guess my satirical comment to land with you.
Lazymike97
Saint Paul , MN
Total Comments (638)
Hey Lazymike97..I see, like 90% of americans it seems, get their news from the Daily Show/Colbert Report.. ;)
Oh, and I'm guilty as charged as well!
bigfuzzy
Total Comments (20)
Tru dat, at least it's teh TRUTH! And that was!
Lazymike97
Saint Paul , MN
Total Comments (638)
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