According to a report released by the Media Research Center on Monday, Wikipedia is accused of blacklisting all major conservative publications and favoring leftist outlets.
The report exposes how the self-proclaimed online encyclopedia disproportionately labels right-leaning news outlets as unreliable while favoring liberal sources as credible.
Wikipedia is by far the most popular online source of information. It has been criticized because of its alleged bias.
A report by the MRC states that “Wikipedia has effectively banned 100% of right-leaning media – those most likely to treat members of Congress and incoming officials in the Trump administration fairly.” “However, only 16% of left-wing media sources fail to win Wikipedia’s stamp of approval.”
The report assessed how Wikipedia categorizes news sources, finding that conservative outlets such as Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Newsmax, One America News Network, and the Media Research Center are labeled as “generally unreliable” or effectively blacklisted.
Author Luis Cornelio expressed concerns over the implications of these classifications.
“Among the effectively blackballed media sources are Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, Newsmax, OANN, and the Media Research Center. Meanwhile, leftist media like The Atlantic, Jacobin, Mother Jones, ProPublica, The Guardian, and National Public Radio are given the green light,” he wrote.
It is clear that Wikipedia deliberately feeds Americans-only information through a left-leaning perspective.
In a Daily Wire article, Cornelio Schneider and Dan Schneider, vice-presidents of MRC Free Speech America argued that Wikipedia’s sourcing policy distorts political narratives.
The authors claim that this unfair treatment was done deliberately. They say it was a deliberate attempt to exclude right-of-center perspectives from online discussions to slander or disparage anyone opposing the radical left agenda.
According to the report, Wikipedia’s editorial choices influence how political figures are depicted. Reports claim that the left-leaning press has negatively portrayed Donald Trump’s appointees and other conservative figures on Wikipedia. While Democrat figures receive more favorable coverage.
Cornelio & Schneider claim that “this manipulation of information goes beyond simply blacklisting specific sources — it actively distorts the political narratives.”
The pages of Trump’s appointees have a left-leaning tone, giving them a distorted, hostile view. Democratic officials, on the other hand, are treated differently, with a positive tone, and selective omissions.
Wikipedia has not yet publicly responded to the findings of the report. The online encyclopedia claims to operate as a collaborative platform with volunteer editors responsible for content moderation. The company’s policies emphasize the importance of relying on reliable sources. For years, there have been discussions about which media outlets meet this standard.
Conservatives have long bemoaned that Wikipedia is nothing less than a political organization masquerading as a not-for-profit organization.