Jan 30, 2006 10:53 pm US/Central
Coleman Staff Makes Changes To Wikipedia Bio
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
Sen. 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:
--Coleman was described as a "liberal" back in college; Coleman's staff changed that to "activist."
"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.
--Coleman's staff deleted a reference to Coleman deciding to run for Senate in 2002 after White House adviser Karl Rove persuaded him not to run for governor. Mische said that although White House officials encouraged Coleman to run for Senate, they never told him not to run for governor. But that reference has since been restored.
--The staff deleted a reference to Coleman voting with President Bush 98 percent of the time in 2003, despite running as a moderate the year before.
"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.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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