14 DAY TRIAL // The Daily Mail, one of the most popular newspapers in the United Kingdom, has just been deemed “generally unreliable” by Wikipedia whose editors voted to ban contributors from using it as a source.
Alexa ranks it at 172 worldwide, 18 in the UK, and 89 in the United States. But despite all these rankings, and despite being one of the most popular newspapers and the most widely read English language news websites, it is widely known that Daily Mail is not exactly the most reliable source with articles full of bigotry, exaggeration and… well, lies.
“Many, many editors (and Jimmy Wales) have said over the years that the Mail is not a reliable source in any area. A list of reasons why would be enormous, it doesn't need reiterating, the paper is trash, pure and simple. There may be rare exceptions where a reference may be useful, perhaps when a Mail story is itself the subject - cases could be presented here for discussion. There is little chance anything of encyclopedic value would be lost from such a move, and everything to be gained, not least an end to continual Mail-related arguments,” states one of the editors in favor of the ban.
Furthermore, the editors justified the ban with the Daily Mail’s reputation of being a poor fact checker, and its penchant for “sensationalism and flat-out fabrication.” Going forward, the Daily Mail should not be used as a source, or for determining notability.
It goes backward too
The decision doesn’t just affect the articles from here on out, but also those that have already been published. In fact, all existing links to the Daily Mail are to be removed and, where possible, replaced with links leading to more reliable sources.
The proposal to ban Daily Mail sourcing in Wikipedia articles goes back to January, which is when the debate started. Arguments were given in both directions, although those opposing the ban weren’t entirely against it either, but rather believed there were cases when it might be acceptable to use it as a source.
The Daily Mail has been known for running false stories about the European Union, immigration, and more. One false news story claimed flights toward the UK from Romania and Bulgaria once the restrictions were lifted back in 2013 were sold out, even though tickets cost thousands of pounds. First, the tickets were just a little over 100 pounds, the flights were not sold out, and on the morning of January 1, as reporters stormed the airports waiting for the wave of immigrants, only one was there. A single individual. Let that sink in.