Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2017-06-23/In the media

This Signpost "In the media" report covers media primarily from April to June 2017.

Kalanick's nipples
The anatomy of Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick's chest area, more exactly his nipples, has been the talk of the month. That is at least what one can gather from a Motherboard article (June 9), in which the author Sarah Emerson asks why Wikipedia hasn't replaced the image with any of the "dozens of fair use, high-resolution options" on Flickr. This because she fails to understand our strict policy on fair use images, disallowed when free alternatives are available. However, she's partly correct that there exist a few alternatives, like this one by TechCrunch.

The article includes two screenshots of "heated" debate from the talk page spanning three years. However, this discussion only included six comments in total, one of which pointed out that the nipples were worth some $2.1 billion each. Normally I would have applied to such a statement, but given that a 5-minute Uber fare in central Stockholm costs me $13, I'm not so surprised that the pennies trickle in for the CEO. J.

Episode #138 of Drama on the Hill
The reality drama series that is the Donald Trump presidency continues onwards with its latest breathtaking episode. In a shocking development Newsweek reports (June 8) that with the help of the Twitter account @CongressEdits they've been able to uncover a traitor within the midst of the United States House of Representatives. As the Comey hearing unfolded, a rogue agent used a House IP address to add a controversial example of obstruction of justice to our encyclopedia. J.

In brief

 * Building a wall, and letting readers pay for it: Katherine Maher described "alternative facts [as] nothing new" in an interview with a Swedish newspaper, based on the title of the pay-to-read piece. (Svenska Dagbladet, May 22) J.
 * Wikipedia HacKeD!1: Another day, another tabloid hack who doesn't know the meaning of the word. Yet again has the media described an article suffering from common vandalism following the British election as being "hacked" (Daily Mirror, June 9). To quote the last issue of The Signpost, it is indeed "a sexy word to use in a headline". J.
 * "Turks click away but Wikipedia is gone": In early April, the Turkish government blocked access to Wikipedia. While the news was covered online and around the world, the best [COI] writing on the subject comes from Wikinews (May 2). C., J.
 * Jimmy on tour: Wiki founder Wales found a moment to mention his start-up, Wikinews copycat Wikitribune, while discussing the Facebook echo chamber in a CNBC interview (June 16) earlier last week. J.
 * Oh, to be young and free! Do you remember those times? Wikipedia was but a mewling infant, with fewer articles than Trump had lawsuits. VatorNews sure does! In a recent throwback article (June 13) they did a recap of Wikipedia's history – from Nupedia to now. J.
 *  secure.wikimedia.org : Motherboard (May 26) and Siliconrepublic (May 30) wrote pieces about Wikipedia's 2011 switch from HTTP to HTTPs – adding another layer of security for readers against govermental spying and censorship. J.
 * The Signpost in the media: A special report from February written by about paid editing has gotten traction in the "real media", and has been discussed in an article by The Times of Israel (May 29). J.
 * Wikipedia lives to lobby again: It feels like just yesterday Wikipedia protested against the proposed American legislation SOPA/PIPA. Now Wikipedia has launched FairCopyrightOz, teaming up with organisations in favor of fair use in Australia. The campaign has been covered by Gizmodo (May 22), The Sydney Morning Herald (May 21) and others. J.
 * I hear 'Happy Birthday' is in order! The Wire passes on their congratulations (June 4) to the Odia Wikipedia community, which just turned 15. Join The Wire and The Signpost in giving them a big round of applause! J.
 * Dead suits brought back to life: After Wikimedia's lawsuit against the NSA was dismissed, the WMF appealed the ruling, and the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously to review the suit. Vice News believes this "could reveal secrets of [the] NSA surveillance program" (May 24). J.

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