Stop the presses! A factual error in reporting from The Lunduke Journal has been found and verified!
Part of responsible journalism is a relentless dedication to the facts. This means that, when an error is discovered, it is critically important that the publication not only correct that error... but loudly and publicly announce it.
The Factual Error
In an August 20th, 2023 article -- entitled "The Wiki Piggy Bank" -- I go in depth on the financials of Wikipedia (and the Wikimedia Foundation which runs it).
In one portion of that article, I discus the "Wikimedia Endowment". A fund worth over $100 Million dollars.
In that portion of the article, I made the following statement regarding the source of the funds for this endowment.
"If Wikimedia Foundation only contributed $30 Million (from user donations) to the Endowment... who contributed the rest of the money? A company? Rich benefactor? (No... it's not listed.)"
That statement... was factually incorrect.
It turns out that some of that information is, in fact, made publicly available... The Lunduke Journal simply missed it. An unfortunate error, as the details of this funding raises significant questions about Wikimedia and, quite honestly, makes the story even more interesting.
George Soros. Google. Facebook. While there are plenty of other names on the list of "benefactors", those three immediatly jump out as raising significant concerns regarding their potential control of Wikipedia.
Why did Wikimedia not correct this error?
Worth noting: The Lunduke Journal reached out to the Wikimedia Foundation, both before and after publication of the original article, for comments or corrections. None were ever provided. That article went on to be seen -- in one form or another -- tens of millions of times (across a number of platforms) over the months that followed.
Wikimedia was aware of the contents of this article. When The Lunduke Journal published the statement that their benefactors were "not listed"... they would have immediately known that this was an error. As portions of the article were shared, screenshoted, and quoted millions upon millions of times... they would have been reminded of that error. Repeatedly.
Which begs the question... why not correct the error?
The answer appears fairly obvious: They did not correct the error... because they did not want the error to be corrected.
Because, we can assume, the truth is worse for them than the error.
George Soros is among the most polarizing -- and most hated -- persons on Earth.
And, considering the pointedly political agendas and spending of the Wikimedia Foundation, the direct funding and involvement of George Soros only adds "fuel to the fire" in terms of concerns being raised.
I wish that I had caught this error prior to publication as it makes the story even more interesting. But I certainly see why The Wikimedia Foundation was not keen on these facts getting more widespread coverage.
Error Corrected
This error has been corrected in the original article. I am also publishing this article, standalone, to announce the error. I will the follow up by publishing both a podcast and a video declaring both the error and the correction.
I want to thank The Lunduke Journal reader who sent in this correction. It is deeply appreciated.
