NIDA and Wikipedia: the definition of propaganda
Propaganda: information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause.
Ryan Grim at Politico reports that the National Institute on Drug Abuse was caught vandalizing its own Wikipedia entry. And, of course, we the taxpayers are paying them to do it.
Pete Guither follows up at Drug WarRant with an excellent set of links detailing the original entry, and the Government’s changes to it. NIDA’s first attempt to makeover its Wikipedia entry reads like something written by an amateur PR firm:
NIDA is not only seizing upon unprecedented opportunities and technologies to further the understanding of how drugs of abuse affect the brain and behavior, but also working to ensure the rapid and effective transfer of scientific data to policy makers, drug abuse practitioners, other health care practitioners, and the general public.
The NIDA web site is an important part of this effort.
This truly laughable attempt to recreate its entry was soon caught both by Wikipedia’s bots, and by the human editors. Apparently, the vandals at NIDA didn’t know that all entries are saved on Wikipedia, from minor changes to complete wipeouts.
That didn’t stop them from making slower but still blatant attempts to add their propaganda to the entry over the coming months. They have since admitted that they did it, and the current entry on Wikipedia contains a new section about how the government agency tried to remake its image on the site. Serves them right – and unlike their “modifications”, at least that section is 100% true.
Other bloggers reporting on and picking up this story include Steve, John Daly, Wonkette (who calls it the “War on Wikipedia”), Scott Morgan, Jacob Sullum, LeisureGuy, Magellan, Carrie Cann, Mia Culpa, and several others.
This is an important story…other folks need to pick this up and run with it as well. The “War on Drugs” is indeed the “War on Truth”.
