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Published on June 23rd, 2008

WebGuild: Wikipedia Entry On Tim Russert Gets Employee Fired

When Tim Russert died on June 13, NBC held off reporting the news for almost two hours and asked other TV networks to hold off reporting it so that his family vacationing in Italy could be notified first. However, long before Mr. Russert’s death was reported on air, it was on the Web, Twitter, and Wikipedia.

The Wikipedia entry on Mr. Russert’s page was updated at 3:01 p.m., forty minutes before NBC made the announcement on air. His biography had the date of this death and it was rewritten in the past tense. Many journalists had heard something had happened to Mr. Russert but did not know the outcome because of the black out…IBS says a “junior-level employee” changed the Wikipedia entry to reflect Russert’s death because he or she thought it was common knowledge. When NBC discovered the entry, and freaked out, someone else at IBS deleted the date of Russert’s death and changed all of the verb tenses back.

I have a call into IBS to confirm this story. Unless there was a specific policy in place regarding posting on Wikipedia or other online activity it seems unfair that this employee would be fired for suppressing information. Makes no sense.

9 users responded in " Post a Fact on Wikipedia and Get Fired "

# 1 bobbo said, on June 23rd, 2008 at 7:49 am

Why does Wiki care about what NBC thinks? Further, I don’t see a wiki post as breaking a news broadcast as people “in the know” have to go to the site and look it up? So, the legitimate interest of NBC is pretty well respected.

In the main though, if the wiki entry should not have been edited, it was managements fault for not locking the site. 95% of the time, the error of employees is the direct result of management failure.

Its the way of the world.

# 2 dusan maletic said, on June 23rd, 2008 at 8:04 am

Wikipedia is not news. Wikipedia is the facts. And the fact was correct when posted, Mr. Russet was dead. So, even if there was news blackout specifically known to this employee, he was not violating it. Another example of how the old media doesn’t understand the Web.

# 3 Patrick said, on June 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 am

The firing would only make sense if the employee had been told that the story was embargoed until X condition was met or X time, or a policy regarding Wiki in general.

# 4 sirfelix said, on June 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 am

Is anyone here questioning how the media is able to manipulate the facts by use of a unanimous blackout?
What happened to getting the facts out without bias?
Why does an American have to seek the truth via foriegn news agencies? When did US news become one long commentary ?

# 5 Mr. Fusion said, on June 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 am

If the employee posted the story and it wasn’t his / her job then I can understand the firing. Remember, in the US the employer does not need a reason to fire you. Compensation (severance) is usually only for higher level contract employees.

# 6 jph said, on June 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 am

@5 Sorry, but compassion and respect in cases like this should always win out over diseminating all information at all costs. Put this in a personal perspective: Your closest loved one dies, do you want to find out on Wikipedia or a personal phone call from a friend?

# 7 Mister Ketchup said, on June 23rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm

#1 – Well no shit Sherlock!

# 8 English Vibrato said, on June 23rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm

It is a mad world.

# 9 Shin said, on June 24th, 2008 at 4:17 am

So..in spite of all the warnings and caveats from the oldstream media about how you can’t trust the Wiki, the Wiki had no oversight, the Wiki is wrong…for a short while..the Wiki was right? And was the only place that was right? And right because it worked exactly the way it was supposed to work. Someone who knew sometime posted it in the relevant section of the Wiki.

Too bad that they were fired, if they were..but it was only a matter of time. Going around and posting the truth is not a good way to advance in corporate America. If you want to be telling the truth you’d better be your own boss.

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