Following reports of former New York Times editor and the Free Press founder Bari Weiss being appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News, editors on Wikipedia began negatively slanting her page and those of CBS and the Free Press. This includes attempting to label Weiss as right-wing and slanted edits about a CBS settlement with President Donald Trump. Some suggested blacklisting CBS as a source in the future.
News about Weiss being appointed to leadership at CBS News first emerged on October 2 with the official announcement on October 6. The newly-merged parent company Paramount Skydance further announced its purchase of her Free Press outlet. Weiss previously worked as an opinion editor for the New York Times before resigning due to what she stated was relentless hostility from radical leftist co-workers. Her selection as editor-in-chief at CBS News reportedly sparked panic among left-wing journalists at CBS, though some apparently welcomed her leadership due to her pro-Israeli stance. CBS has faced numerous other difficulties this year that have also aroused unease at the outlet.
Days after the announcement, Wikipedia editors began labeling Weiss and the Free Press as conservative, despite her identifying as centrist. Editor “Snokalok” added to her page a claim from left-wing New Republic that she was “anti-trans” among other labels. The edit was removed, but another editor subsequently inserted the “anti-trans” label citing LGBT advocacy media. Snokalok also pushed the label on Weiss at the CBS article itself, while claiming her appointment marked a right-ward shift, though this was partly undone. Snokalok’s profile page implicitly attacks Trump and references the false “Nazi salute” claim against Elon Musk. An editor’s attempt to label Weiss conservative was also undone.
Another editor added a paragraph to the article on the Free Press largely critical of its pro-Israeli stance and also repeatedly labeling it a conservative outlet. Self-proclaimed progressive Trump critic “Tataral” tried to label the outlet a “right-wing Internet blog” and suggested potential deletion of the outlet’s page, though this was undone an hour later for not complying with sources and past consensus. Tataral was previously involved in smearing Acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin as “far-right” after he sent a letter requesting information about Wikipedia’s bias earlier this year. She also pushed “far-right” smears against Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk shortly after his assassination last month.
Further efforts were devoted to discrediting the Free Press and CBS. One editor added material claiming the Free Press falsely reported crime in Austin, Texas had gone up under a Democrat District Attorney when it had actually gone down. In fact, the article notes claims crime went down, but points out major crimes such as murder had risen under the DA’s tenure and cited critics attributing declines in lesser property offenses to declining prosecutions. A larger criticism section added by another editor to the page repeated the claims and others in the article accusing the outlet of misrepresenting the situation in Gaza.
In edits to the CBS article, an editor significantly expanded material about a lawsuit Trump filed against the network over deceptive editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, which ended with a settlement in Trump’s favor after a judge approved the suit for trial. The expanded material claimed the “lawsuit was widely described as frivolous by legal experts.” Cited was a CNN article, which linked to another CNN article citing three lawyers, including CNN’s own lawyer. A cited article in the Hill only described the case as being “on shaky ground” instead.
Material added also included claiming as fact that the settlement with President Trump was due to needing FCC approval of the Paramount Skydance merger. However, the cited sources either don’t explicitly claim a connection or presented it as mere speculative opinion. Both Paramount and the FCC denied any connection between the two in several of the cited articles, but neither denial was included in the addition to the page. It also made unattributed claims about the settlement being a “blow to freedom of the press” despite the less opinionated sources cited attributing such claims to specific advocacy groups.
Word of Weiss being appointed also prompted multiple discussions for potentially reviewing the current status of CBS under Wikipedia’s “reliable sources” policy central to its verifiability standards. One editor opening the discussion cited the “panic” among CBS journalists as a potential negative sign. Wikipedia’s “perennial sources” page currently colors CBS green, indicating it is considered “generally reliable” on the site. Discussions about “reliability” are the main vehicle by which Wikipedia editors have been purging conservative media including Breitbart News, reports of which went viral several weeks ago following an interview site co-founder Larry Sanger had with commentator Tucker Carlson when discussing his proposal for reform at the site.
Although most editors advised a “wait-and-see” approach on CBS, with one outright mocking concerns, others were less hesitant. Editor “Monk of Monk Hall” stated Weiss heading CBS would impact its reliability and suggested collecting evidence for an eventual downgrade discussion. Monk was previously involved in spreading lies attacking Kirk prominently days after Kirk’s assassination. One editor responded to Monk with “evidence” against CBS, noting it now included reporting tied to the Free Press since the leadership move and also argued the outlet was not sufficiently critical of Israel. The same editor had added content seeking to discredit the Free Press to its page. Monk in turn criticized CBS for taking ICE reports credulously.
Such edits and comments fit a common pattern with Wikipedia blacklisting campaigns. Editors have frequently smeared numerous conservative outlets on their articles prior to pushing for them to be blacklisted, including in campaigns against Fox News and Breitbart News. Free Press is currently listed as a “marginally reliable source” where use is generally discouraged on the site. Attempts to further discredit it, while also tying it to CBS, could be used to build a case against CBS itself as some editors have already indicated.
Concerns about Wikipedia’s bias against conservatives and Israel have prompted an investigation from the House Oversight Committee with bi-partisan members of Congress also inquiring about anti-Israeli bias. Earlier this month, Sen. Ted Cruz as Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee inquired particularly about the site’s sourcing blacklist. Stating Wikipedia was a “noble concept” in his letter to the owners of Wikipedia, Cruz lamented this made its systemic bias even more concerning, especially given its considerable influence on global information.
T. D. Adler edited Wikipedia as The Devil’s Advocate. He was banned after privately reporting conflict of interest editing by one of the site’s administrators. Due to previous witch-hunts led by mainstream Wikipedians against their critics, Adler writes under an alias.
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