Wikipedia Editors Are Fiercely Debating Two Specific Words
Plus: Venturing into Video Before the Publication of THE EDITORS
I’m back on the front page of Slate this morning with an article about how Wikipedia editors are debating how to reflect last week’s verdict on Trump’s article.
At 4:37 PM on Thursday, New York Justice Juan Merchan announced to his Manhattan courtroom that the jury had reached a verdict. Twelve jurors had found former President Donald J. Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Half an hour later, a Wikipedia editor revised the first sentence of Trump’s Wikipedia article so that it described the former president as an American politician, media personality, businessman, and “convicted felon.”
At press time for this article, the words “convicted felon” do not appear in the opening sentence of Trump’s Wikipedia page. Instead, the guilty verdict appears further down, in the sixth paragraph of the article’s lead section and in a separate subsection about the Stormy Daniels case. But beneath the surface layer of Trump’s Wikipedia entry there is an ongoing and spirited debate among editors about those two specific words. As it turns out, it’s not always clear how to apply Wikipedia’s traditional rules to such a polarizing figure as Trump.
» Read my latest article for Slate
Adventures in Video 👋🎥👋
It’s happening…
My novel The Editors comes out on August 6th, but if you’re thinking about buying it anyway, please consider pre-ordering it as this really helps draw attention to the title. Essentially, bookstores decide whether to stock the book based on these advanced metrics. If you do pre-order, I want to thank you with some bonus material about the book.
The process is simple: (1) pre-order the book from your preferred book seller; (2) email your receipt to me at stephenbharrison@gmail.com.
Here are the pre-order links to Amazon and my favorite local bookstore. Thank you!