During a recent episode of "The Tucker Carlson Show," Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, provided an in-depth look at the online encyclopedia's contentious source ranking system, which classifies news organizations based on their perceived reliability. Sanger and host Tucker Carlson discussed the "perennial sources" page, a Wikipedia feature that rates the credibility of various media outlets through what the platform calls "public discussion and consensus."
Sanger guided Carlson through the list, highlighting that mainstream news sources such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The Nation, Mother Jones, and GLAAD are all greenlit by Wikipedia, meaning they are approved for citation. Conversely, the co-founder revealed a list of "blacklisted" sources, including Breitbart News, the Daily Caller, The Epoch Times, Fox News, the New York Post, and The Federalist, which are prohibited from being used as factual references on the site.
Carlson, who disclosed his past involvement with founding the Daily Caller, expressed astonishment at the revelations. Sanger explained the color-coding system utilized by Wikipedia, where a red designation signifies a source is blacklisted. This list also includes Blaze News, CounterPunch, and other outlets.
The segment also touched on the role of an account named Mr. X in the creation of the list, with Sanger noting that, like all Wikipedia pages, the list is subject to editing by numerous individuals. Wikipedia's classification of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as "generally reliable on topics related to hate groups and extremism in the United States" was also discussed, despite the SPLC's controversial labeling of organizations such as Turning Point USA and its founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on September 10.
Furthermore, the discussion brought to light an inaccuracy in an article by The Nation, which misquoted Kirk and later issued a correction. The corrected quote highlighted Kirk's commentary on affirmative action and its impact on societal perceptions.
The segment concluded with an examination of ProPublica's "generally reliable for all purposes" rating on Wikipedia. This endorsement was questioned in light of a Daily Caller review of Federal Election Commission records, which revealed that most ethics experts cited by ProPublica in articles about Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito had donated to Democratic campaigns and left-wing causes. ProPublica's failure to disclose these political contributions and the shared donor relationships raised concerns about potential bias and the lack of transparency.
