Why Wikipedia Could Become the People’s Newspaper of Record

Folks, Wikipedia is a record of what happened and what is happening in the world, and we need that historical record to make good decisions. To help out, I just donated $1 million to the Wikimedia Endowment, a collective action fund set up this year by the Wikimedia Foundation at the Tides Foundation. The endowment ensures that the platform will be here in perpetuity.

It's pretty critical that Wikipedia continues on its quest to provide free knowledge. I like to think of Wikipedia as the place where facts go to live. And the thing is, everybody can access it for free. That’s really important.

The Wikimedia Foundation's goal is to raise $100 million over the next 10 years, to aid in further empowering people worldwide to create and contribute free knowledge, and to make that knowledge accessible to every person on the planet. While my $1M contribution is the largest so far, we've gotta keep it up to ensure that information remains credible and accessible.

Sure, articles on any platform can be erroneous, but on Wikipedia, stuff gets fixed, making it among the most reliable of media platforms.

Wikipedia’s democratic process allows everyone to contribute, but requires verifiable sources. That is vital at a changing time in our media culture. Wikipedia has the potential to become the people’s newspaper of record. But we also need to make sure that a range of people are contributing and verifying information. In an effort to keep working toward wider inclusivity, I've pledged an additional $100,000 to support Wikipedia's efforts to enhance the diversity of its community of contributors.

Wikipedia is unique in its timely presentation of the facts based on many different sources and voices. That can only be enhanced by increasing the diversity of its contributors.