New York Times editorial board member Sarah Jeong’s Wikipedia page includes no mention of her racist tweets that resurfaced after her new position with the newspaper was announced, apparently because activist editors for the free online encyclopedia won’t allow any mention of her tweets.
There has been a lot of debate amongst Wikipedia writers and editors about whether or not mention of her racist tweets should be included on her page.
One edit request in favor of adding a section about her tweets said:
Sarah Jeong is infamous for her racists tweets on twitter, most of the people who know her name will know her by her tweets. Because of this, I think it is misleading to not say a single line about her racist tweets and simply label her as “an American journalist specializing in law and technology topics”.
An editor responded to the requests by saying, “First, it uses the word ‘found,’ which suggests a mainstream authority, preferably a scientific one. Second, ThePostOnline is an explicitly right-wing news site, according to wikipedia’s own article on it, and therefore not a reliable source.”
In response to the point the editor made, another writer added, “I am aware that she is ‘notable’ for appearing in earlier news articles, but anyone learning of her in the coming days will be learning about her because of this controversy, not because they are interested in a random journalist. I’m having a hard time understanding why it’s not on the page already.”
