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Quote hoax replicated in traditional media, and more

Fake quote reproduced in newspaper obituaries

Following the death of Maurice Jarre on 28 March, many newspapers carried an obituary that included a quote attributed to the French composer:

"One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear."

The quote, it was revealed this week, was lifted from Wikipedia. It was a hoax perpetrated by Shane Fitzgerald, a 22-year-old college student in Dublin, Ireland. Fitzgerald came clean this week, explaining that he had inserted the quote into Wikipedia while working on an essay about globalization and the media but hadn't expected it to be picked up beyond blogs and minor news sources. Instead, it spread to newspapers across the globe.

"My aim," Fitzgerald said, "was to show that an undergraduate university student in Ireland can influence what newspapers are doing around the world and also that the reliance of newspapers on the internet can lead to some faults." No newspapers had caught the fake quote before Fitzgerald contacted publishers.

The quote was added between Jarre's death and the obituaries that began appearing three days later. As The Irish Times notes, Fitzgerald added unsourced quotes several times; the second time his quote remained in the article for over 24 hours, while the first and third times it was removed more quickly.

Wikinews reports vandalism from U.S. Congress computers

A story published this week on Wikinews, "Congressional computers continue to be used to vandalize Wikipedia", reports on recent "questionable edits" that have been made from IP addresses assigned to the U.S. Congress. In addition to whitewashing the biographies of politicians, recent edits from Congress include "highly biased statements to articles related to abortion" and "racial slurs and references to gay pedophilia" in the biography of Catholic League president William A. Donohue.

Wikipedia research and scholarship

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