Larry Sanger Speaks Out The Wikipedia co-founder discusses Katherine Maher(Wikipedia CEO Katherine Maher, who is now the CEO of NPR) and the corruption of the Internet.

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City Journal

Larry Sanger remembers the promise of the web. He co-founded Wikipedia in 2001, with the hope that it could sustain a “free and open” Internet—a place where information, dissent, and creativity could thrive. At Wikipedia, he proposed a system of rules that encouraged users to “avoid bias” and maintain a “neutral point of view.”

That Internet is gone.

I reached out to Sanger following the revelation, from my original reporting, that former Wikimedia Foundation CEO Katherine Maher, who is now CEO of NPR, had explicitly rejected the principles of a “free and open” Internet, collaborated with government officials to censor dissent, and spurned the concept of objective truth altogether, in favor of left-wing relativism.

Sanger told me he was shocked, but not surprised.

Our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, should prompt champions of the free and open Internet to push back against the rising censorship regime before it is too late.

Christopher Rufo: What are you thinking as you’re watching these statements from former Wikipedia CEO Katherine Maher, who is now the CEO of NPR?

Larry Sanger: I’ve been following your tweets. You’ve kind of shocked me. The bias of Wikipedia, the fact that certain points of view have been systematically silenced, is nothing new. I’ve written about it myself. But I did not know just how radical-sounding Katherine Maher is. For the ex-CEO of Wikipedia to say that it was somehow a mistake for Wikipedia to be “free and open,” that it led to bad consequences—my jaw is on the floor. I can’t say I’m terribly surprised that she thinks it, but I am surprised that she would say it.

Rufo: In another clip, she says explicitly that she worked with governments to suppress “misinformation” on Wikipedia.

Sanger: Yes, but how did she do that in the Wikipedia system? Because I don’t understand it myself. We know that there is a lot of backchannel communication and I think it has to be the case that the Wikimedia Foundation now, probably governments, probably the CIA, have accounts that they control, in which they actually exert their influence.

And it’s fantastic, in a bad way, that she actually comes out against the system for being “free and open.” When she says that she’s worked with government to shut down what they consider “misinformation,” that, in itself, means that it’s no longer free and open.

But the thing is—I’m using the words carefully here—the Wikimedia Foundation doesn’t have an authority in the Wikipedia system: the website, its talk pages, the various bureaucratic structures. It just doesn’t have the authority to shut things down. So, if Big Pharma or their government representatives want to shut down a description of their research of a Covid-critical biochemist, I want to know how that happens. And I think the other people who are at work on Wikipedia, we want to know how that happens.

Rufo: I’ve talked with some reporters who cover “misinformation” and they have noted that Katherine Maher has ties to multiple NGOs that are deeply connected to U.S. intelligence services. Do you have any suspicion that she has been working with American intelligence to shape Wikipedia entries from a distance?

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Also at Christopher F. Rufo Substack

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Bill Maher confronts his liberal audience with wild statements woke NPR CEO has made

"Real Time" host Bill Maher took swipes at NPR and its "'Portlandia' character" boss Katherine Maher following weeks of turmoil in the far-left newsroom.  

 

While discussing right-leaning voters' refusal to back President Biden in the upcoming election, Maher pointed to the dramatic saga unfolding at NPR following the bombshell essay penned by ousted editor Uri Berliner, saying "NPR is to them what this country would be if it was a permanent Democratic governorship." 

"The big show is called ‘All Things Considered.' It's not ‘All Things Considered.' He's not wrong," Maher told his panel Friday night. 

"And he pointed out, for example, that of the 87 people working in editorial positions there, 87 are Democrats. Even if you're a Democrat, you can't think this is good," Maher said. 

Maher then knocked his "namesake" NPR CEO for her woke social media posts.

"She's a ‘Portlandia’ character," Maher quipped. "She says things like ‘I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive. But it’s founded on treating people's ancestors as private property.' I mean, c'mon man. A long time ago. She says 'I suffer with cis-White mobility privilege.' I mean it's kind of White woman who says she's Beyoncé's spirit animal."

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Apr 21, 2024

Toby Young joins Fraser Myers and Tom Slater to discuss Katherine Maher, NPR’s bizarre new CEO.