Election Candidates Polluting the Wikipedia?

February 21, 2007

Wikipedia is supposed to be a neutral, objective and comprehensive source of information on all branches of knowledge, freely contributed by volunteers around the world. But some election candidates are likely going to destroy that…

I was shocked when I heard nearly a week ago that some senatoriables were posting  their own entries in the Wikipedia as part of their election campaign. In short, they're turning the Wikipedia into a political campaign platform. Talk about poisoning the well…

As I read their articles one by one, I found that many of them violated Wikipedia's Verifiability and No Original Research policies by not citing credible sources such as newspapers and official documents for their claims. Some even blatantly hurled uncited negative statements bordering on libel. Others also violated Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View (NPOV) by using phrases that expressed their own grandeur and by narrating events that are biased in their favor. Phrases such as "highly-acclaimed" and "championed human rights" read like marketing ads. And phrases such as "successfully staged a political comeback" and "even challenging a more popular bet…" read like an underdog protagonist doing something spectacular in a story.

But in fairness, a few political aspirant entries did manage to cite their sources and write in a neutral point of view.

Admittedly, this is one weakness of Wikipedia. Anyone can edit it. Anyone can add any article to it. That is why Wikipedia is prone to abuse, specifically vandalism. But on the other hand, its weakness is also its strength. Wikipedia is arguably one of the most updated online encyclopedias to date and has a tight quality control. Everyone can police the Wikipedia for abuse and check the articles for violations against objectivity and verifiability. As of this writing, many of the political aspirants' articles are tagged with a "Uncited references" box by Wikipedia editors. Wikipedia editors are also on the watch for incoming election candidate articles.

Here are the election candidates who have their own Wikipedia entries as of this writing: 

• Edgardo Angara
• Benigno Aquino III
• Joker Arroyo
• Edgar Chatto
• Mike Defensor
• Francis Escudero
• Gringo Honasan
• Ping Lacson
• Loren Legarda
• Vic Magsaysay
• Cesar Montano
• Francis Pangilinan
• Jericho Petilla
• Ralph Recto
• Chavit Singson
• Tito Sotto
• Manny_Villar
• Miguel Zubiri