Media coverage of the Arnnon Geshuri no-confidence vote
The news media often does a poor job of covering or even understanding the internal workings of Wikipedia, the Wikimedia movement, and the Wikimedia Foundation. However, the recent appointment of Arnnon Geshuri to the WMF Board of Trustees and the growing community complaints regarding his involvement in the High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation cases resulted in some substantial and accurate news coverage.
The first publications to cover the matter were ZDNet in France and Ars Technica in the United States. On January 25, Joe Mullin, Tech Policy Editor at Ars Technica, published "Wikipedia editors revolt, vote 'no confidence' in newest board member", in which he noted:
| “ | Nearly 200 Wikipedia editors have taken the unprecedented step of calling for a member of the Wikimedia Foundation board of directors to be tossed out. | ” |
A flurry of similar stories in other news outlets followed – among them the BBC and Le Monde – in languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. Many of these linked to the no-confidence vote itself as well as to The Signpost's prior coverage; a number of them, including the BBC, Ars Technica, and Fortune, noted that Jimmy Wales, Arnnon Geshuri, and/or the Wikimedia Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.