MTSU Sidelines

Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: News

Iconic journalist John Seigenthaler and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales may have disagreed about emerging forms of Internet communication in the past, but they both seem to agree on one thing.

While Wikipedia-and other forms of online-media-may have a way to go to ensure credibility and accuracy, it should still be regarded as a vital exercise in American democracy.

Seigenthaler, Wales and former Vice-President Al Gore participated in a roundtable discussion at MTSU on March 27 as part of a day-long event on the First Amendment and the Internet.

Though they had previously spoken over the phone and been featured together on television, the occasion marked the first time Seigenthaler and Wales appeared together on stage.

And Gore surely had a chance to employ his Nobel Peace Prize, sitting between the two and interjecting with his own questions and experiences.

In a professional lecture before the roundtable discussion, Gore tracked the evolution of communication from humans' migration of out of Africa to the invention of Google, saying that the future of American democracy depends on the Internet's freedom.

Gore said he believes the challenge that lies before the Internet is ensuring integrity while "supporting a media ecology that reinvigorates that democracy."

"There are real threats to it that could constrict that flow of information," he said. "But the [Internet] represents a source of great hope."

Gore said the vital function of media is in supporting a meritocracy of ideas, something he said that Wikipedia could help reinvigorate.

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Access and credibility

While it was actually a cordial exchange between Wales and Seigenthaler, several concerns about Wikipedia were discussed.

"I won't feel good about Wikipedia's potential until there is the same passion for credibility as there is for access," Seigenthaler said. "There's such an excitement, a thrill, about the wonderful world of Wikipedia. I'm worried that there is no commitment to credibility."

Seigenthaler's Wikipedia biography-now monitored for precision-once falsely linked him with the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. In 2005, Seigenthaler reported the malicious information to the Wiki powers-that-be.

Seigenthaler called the ordeal "unpleasant."

"Particularly," he said, "when there is nothing you can do about it except hurt."

But Wales noted the journalist's vigilant support of the First Amendment, commending him for never suggesting that Wikipedia be shut down.

Continued...

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