Contrary to recent op-ed’s conclusions, ADL report on antisemitism on Wikipedia is accurate
A historian disputes his former co-author’s characterization of ADL report
Does Wikipedia really have an antisemitism problem? Photo by iStock by Getty Images
Re: “Is Wikipedia a cesspool of antisemitism? Don’t trust the ADL’s answer” by Shira Klein
The Forward recently published an op-ed by historian Shira Klein that takes a strong exception to a study of antisemitism on Wikipedia, published by the Anti-Defamation League. I am a professor of history at the University of Ottawa, and two years ago, I co-authored with Klein a major academic article on Wikipedia’s intentional distortion of the history of the Holocaust, whose research results she claims the ADL “misinterpreted” in her article.
Let me state right away that I am not here to defend the ADL report; I am certain that the authors of the study will do it much better themselves. My problem, however, is the fact that my own work is used by Klein in ways which I find unacceptable. Truth be told, the ADL report makes only one small reference to our research: “In one instance, a group of Polish editors appears to have engaged in coordinated efforts to insert a Polish nationalist narrative into articles on the Holocaust in Poland, downplaying Polish responsibility and blaming Polish Jews.” If anything, the ADL report downplays our findings, which point to the pervasive presence of antisemitism on the Wikipedia pages we analyzed.
Furthermore, our research found that all that’s needed to distort the narrative on Wikipedia is a small group of ideologically driven senior editors. This is precisely what the ADL study found in the context of their broader analysis of antisemitic bias on Wikipedia.
Klein believes, however, that “the content we scrutinized was limited in scope, and authored by half a dozen editors with, as we established, a far-right Polish nationalist agenda. Our research cannot reasonably be used to extrapolate broad conclusions about the extent of antisemitism on Wikipedia at large.” Extrapolating from our research is, however, exactly what has to be done — otherwise, my and Klein’s work has no applicability. Micro-study for the sake of micro-study makes little sense in the domain of historical science. Our research pointed not only to the falsification of certain aspects of the history of the Holocaust on Wikipedia, but — much more importantly — to several systemic problems which made it possible.
Since the publication of our work on Wikipedia, I have received overwhelming evidence that our findings resonated across many other fields, disciplines and issues. It is regrettable that Klein forgot the conclusions of her own research.
— Jan Grabowski
Distinguished University Professor of History
University of Ottawa
