Wikipedia: Daily Mail is “Unreliable” and No Longer a Source

Wikipedia labels the Daily Mail as “generally unreliable” and bans the news site as a source on their website.

After a discussion, Wikipedia editors have chosen to ban the use of the Daily Mail as a source on their website in most cases.

In a statement, Wikipedia said, “Consensus has determined that the Daily Mail (including its online version, dailymail.co.uk) is generally unreliable, and its use as a reference is to be generally prohibited, especially when other more reliable sources exist.”

Wikipedia added, “As a result, the Daily Mail should not be used for determining notability, nor should it be used as a source in articles. An edit filter should be put in place going forward to warn editors attempting to use the Daily Mail as a reference.”

Wikipedia editors discussed the request to ban Daily Mail as a source with some editors calling the website “yellow journalism.”

Daily Mail
(Radu Bercan / Shutterstock, Inc.)

“As others have said it is a byword for the worst kinds of yellow journalism, it is (in effect) a fake news organ. Just because a lot of people buy it (or even by it) does not mean it is a reliable source for anything other then it’s own views.”

Henceforward, Wikipedia will start reviewing, removing and replacing the thousands of existing citations linking back to the Daily Mail.

This news comes after many websites are struggling with the fake news. Facebook has launched a war against false news with several features, initiatives, and projects to stop the spread of misinformation on the website. Also, researchers also have begun studying ways to teach people how to spot and identify fake news and avoid getting persuaded.

Most notably, Facebook, who was publicly accosted for spreading false news during the election by former President Barack Obama, has since released new features. These features including a journalism initiative to help journalists cover information, reporting tools to report fake news, and hiring new staff to lead their news division.