Duped by Wikipedia, Leveson wrongly cites baffled American as Independent founder
An American wrongly cited as editor of Britain’s Independent newspaper in the 1,987 page Leveson report has expressed surprise that its authors should source such information from Wikipedia.
Brett Straub was elevated to the unwarranted position of co-founder of the venerable title after being wrongly named as such on the web encyclopaedia, but had never heard of the newspaper in question nor indeed had he ever set foot in Britain.
Straub said he had been the victim of a prank after his friend added his name to a number of Wikipedia articles as a joke, naming him as the creator of Coca Cola amongst other things.
Unfortunately Lord Justice Leveson fell for this hook line and sinker, inserting the entry into the report: “The Independent was founded in 1986 by the journalists Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Brett Straub, and was published by Newspaper Publishing plc.”
This despite stressing within the same document that anything published on the net should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Straub told the Telegraph: “It’s funny, I don’t even read newspapers. I graduated college eight months ago and the biggest thing we learned is don’t trust Wikipedia for facts. The fact someone, especially a judge, has believed something on Wikipedia is kind of shocking.”