Keeping News of David Rohde’s Kidnapping Off Wikipedia

So, Wikipedia colluded with the NY Times and other major news outlets to keep the news of a reporter’s kidnapping secret:

For seven months, The New York Times managed to keep out of the news the fact that one of its reporters, David Rhode, had been kidnapped by the Taliban.

Days after Mr. Rohde was kidnapped in November, editing tussles began on his Wikipedia entry.

But that was pretty straightforward compared with keeping it off Wikipedia.

Times executives believed that publicity would raise Mr. Rohde’s value to his captors as a bargaining chip and reduce his chance of survival. Persuading another publication or a broadcaster not to report the kidnapping usually meant just a phone call from one editor to another, said Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times.

But Wikipedia, which operates under the philosophy that anyone can be an editor, and that all information should be public, is a vastly different world.

A dozen times, user-editors posted word of the kidnapping on Wikipedia’s page on Mr. Rohde, only to have it erased. Several times the page was frozen, preventing further editing — a convoluted game of cat-and-mouse that clearly angered the people who were trying to spread the information of the kidnapping.

Even so, details of his capture cropped up time and again, however briefly, showing how difficult it is to keep anything off the Internet — even a sentence or two about a person who is not especially famous.

The sanitizing was a team effort, led by Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, along with Wikipedia administrators and people at The Times. In an interview, Mr. Wales said that Wikipedia’s cooperation was not a given.

“We were really helped by the fact that it hadn’t appeared in a place we would regard as a reliable source,” he said. “I would have had a really hard time with it if it had.”

A troubling development for those (like myself) interested in Wikipedia serving as a model of unfettered speech aimed at obtaining the best version of truth possible.

But, of course, we’re dealing with real people and real lives — so, it’s hard to argue that Wikipedia acted inappropriately. The Wikipedia model appears to be evolving into “big media” in which its responsibility must be weighed against its right to free speech. An unwelcome development for free speech advocates, unless you’re David Rhode.

June in Maine

Photos by Robb Todd

My dog June enjoys Maine.

Ray Bradbury — another great character

And speaking of characters, science-fiction author Ray Bradbury is another good one. He’s 88 now and is still going strong. (He’s the last of the great sci-fi triumvirate of Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov.)

Here’s a great story in the New York Times about his efforts to save a library in California. Here’s a good bit from the article:

Mr. Bradbury has long been known for his clear memory of some of life’s events, and that remains the case, he said. “I have total recall,” he said. “I remember being born. I remember being in the womb, I remember being inside. Coming out was great.”

He also recalled watching the film “Pumping Iron,” which features Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his body-building days, and how his personal recommendation of the film for an Academy Award helped spark Mr. Schwarzenegger’s Hollywood career. He remembers lining his four daughters’ cribs with Golden Books when they were tiny. And he remembers meeting Bo Derek on a train in France years ago.

“She said, ‘Mr. Bradbury.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ She said: ‘I love you! My name is Bo Derek.’”

Ms. Derek’s spokeswoman, Rona Menashe, said the story was true. She said her client would like to see some more of Mr. Bradbury, too.

Mr. Bradbury’s wife, Maggie, to whom he was married for over five decades, died in 2003. He turns 89 in August.

When he is not raising money for libraries, Mr. Bradbury still writes for a few hours every morning (“I can’t tell you,” is the answer to any questions on his latest book); reads George Bernard Shaw; receives visitors including reporters, filmmakers, friends and children of friends; and watches movies on his giant flat-screen television.

He can still be found regularly at the Los Angeles Public Library branch in Koreatown, which he visited often as a teenager.

Good stuff, Mr. Bradbury. And good luck with Bo Derek.

If you haven’t read “The Martian Chronicles,” you should — even if you think you don’t like science fiction. I recommend “There Will Come Soft Rains” and “Usher II.”

Fishing on Oak Island

Lie vs. Lay

Yes, I re-recorded this one. Turns out in my original version I offered erroneous information regarding the past tense. That video has been mysteriously erased from the Internet.

For the love of all that is holy, why did you use the quotation marks like this?

Ahmadinejad defiant on ‘free’ Iran poll

Serious violence in Iran over Ahmadinejad’s “win.” I am grateful that I live in a free country.

The world needs characters

Here’s a great story from NPR about a great character — Simon Sleigh, a Brit who holds the world record for eating 76 feet of a plant called a Stinging Nettle. An eating contest is held every year in the town of Marshwood, England, and Sleigh’s held the record since 2002:

Sleigh says the plant tastes downright disgusting.

“Because it’s so disgusting you think it can’t really be that disgusting, so you persevere with it and see how much you can actually eat,” he says. “And the more you eat, the more you realize you were right in the first place — it is disgusting.”

Sleigh attributes his penchant for nettle-munching to a peculiar life phase he was going through at the time he set the world record. Since then, he hasn’t eaten so much as a leaf.

“I think I was going through some sort of herbal crisis,” he says. “And so by confronting the crisis I was going through by eating these nettles, it helped me through. Now I’ve come out the other side, and to be honest I’m a much better human being as a consequence.”

That’s hilarious. The world is better off for Sleigh and all the other interesting characters who add flavor to our lives.

Das Boot

Here’s what the boat looks like now. Just put on the final coat of paint. I’ll post a description of the work sometime next week from the beaches of Oak Island, NC. Then, I’ll be off to Maine.

House Lifts Lid On Its Expenses

Transparency is good for democracy:

The House will begin posting representatives’ expense reports online, giving the public easy access to records of the millions of dollars lawmakers spend on staff and items such as catering, cars, computers and TVs.

Separately, Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) said Wednesday he would introduce a bill requiring the expense records be posted online in the Senate, as well. Such disclosures are ’something that we will take a look at,’ said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D., Nev.).

In a time of national belt-tightening, taxpayers may expect frugality from Capitol Hill, but not so, according to Congressional expense reports. High-ranking politicians of both parties increased their expenditures in the first three months of 2009, Jonathan Weisman reports.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) ordered the postings Wednesday. The move followed recent stories in The Wall Street Journal examining lawmakers’ office expenditures that are kept in voluminous paper records on Capitol Hill.

A spokesman for the speaker said her action wasn’t prompted by the articles, which found mostly routine spending on staff salaries, travel and office rent, as well as supplies, printing and mailing. The 2008 reports also showed taxpayer money spent on luxury car leases, big-screen TVs, pricey laptops known.

Sure, it had nothing to do with the articles. Power of the press, baby.