Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman's staff made revisions to his biography in an online encyclopedia, putting a different spin on his record.
Wikipedia, an encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to post information, featured Coleman's biography as one of a half-dozen that had been edited by Senate employees. Although the Web site did not specify who edited them, Coleman's chief of staff, Erich Mische, confirmed that the senator's staff had done so.
He said the editing was done to correct inaccuracies and delete information that was not reflective of Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.
"They've got an edit provision on there for the sake of editing when things are not accurate," Mische said. "I presume if they did not want people to edit, they wouldn't allow you to edit."
Among the changes made by Coleman's staff, according to a side-by-side comparison on the Web site:
"Six of one, half-dozen of another," Mische said. "These are all subjective." The word "liberal" has since been restored on the site, although it now describes his early political career.
"That probably should have stayed in there," Mische said. "I should have probably said (to staff), 'Don't take that out, it's a matter of public record.' I'll take responsibility for that." That reference had not been restored as of Monday evening.
Last month, Wikipedia changed its submission rules so that users must register before they can create articles, but did not require people who modify existing articles to register.
Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder, criticized the changes made by Coleman's staff.
"It appears to be a major rewrite of the article to make it more favorable," Wales said. "If they're trying to edit in such a way to change the public record, that's a problem."
Mische was unapologetic. He also questioned the whole operation of the site.
"What's to stop someone from writing in that Norm Coleman was 7-feet-10-inches, with green hair and one eye smack dab in the middle of his head?" he said. "That's about as silly as this gets."
Then why even bother to make changes?
"Because when you put 'edia' in there, it makes it sound as if this is a benign, objective piece of information," Mische said.
By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer
On the Net: Wikipedia
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)|
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