Croatian Wikipedia#Interviews with historians

In a 2011 study by Kubelka and Šoštarić, the reliability of Croatian Wikipedia was compared to Croatian Encyclopedia – the Croatian national encyclopedia.{{sfn|Kubelka|Šoštarić|2013}} Twenty-four reviewers, experts in specific fields, analyzed a representative selection of articles according to the parameters of informativeness, accuracy of presented information, sufficiency, direction and objectivity. Articles were analyzed in 11 thematic categories: arts and culture; history and biographies; medicine and health; technology and applied science; geography; religion; science; mathematics and logic; philosophy; sport and society; and social sciences. Articles were sorted into categories using machine learning techniques, and feature weight statistics were calculated using tf–idf. A total of 500 articles in 250 pairs were randomly chosen and sorted into categories to serve as representative samples.{{sfn|Kubelka|Šoštarić|2013|p=124-125}}

In both samples, facts were manually enumerated – 3015 from the Croatian Encyclopedia and 3315 from Croatian Wikipedia. Comparison for factual accuracy showed that for every error in Croatian Encyclopedia, 2.25 errors were found in Croatian Wikipedia.{{sfn|Kubelka|Šoštarić|2013|p=127}} Analysis by individual categories showed that most errors in Croatian Wikipedia were in the philosophy category, where on average two errors in ten articles were found. The only category where the Croatian Encyclopedia had more errors was natural sciences, where the ratio was 1.25:0.75 in favor of Croatian Wikipedia.{{sfn|Kubelka|Šoštarić|2013|p=128}} Of those factual errors, the ratio was 21:12 for major errors, and 34:23 for minor errors. The overall ratio for minor factual errors was thus lower, the only exception being the society and social sciences category, where the minor error ratio was 3:1.

The reliability analysis for Croatian Wikipedia indicated that 74% of articles were error-free, and 11% had minor errors. Major factual errors were found in 5% of articles, while 4% of articles had both major and minor errors. Overall 85% of articles were deemed "satisfactory" (error-free and containing minor errors), while in comparison 92% of articles in the Croatian Encyclopedia achieved the same rating.{{sfn|Kubelka|Šoštarić|2013|p=129}} 40% of articles in Croatian Wikipedia were assessed as sufficiently informative, as opposed to 62% of articles in Croatian Encyclopedia. 16% of Croatian Wikipedia articles were assessed as "insufficiently informative", as opposed to 5% of articles from Croatian Encyclopedia.{{sfn|Kubelka|Šoštarić|2013|p=130}} The criterion of objectivity measured the neutral point of view in articles; 91% of Croatian Wikipedia articles were assessed as neutral, as opposed to 98% in Croatian Encyclopedia. 2% of Croatian Wikipedia articles were assessed as non-neutral, as opposed to 0% in Croatian Encyclopedia.{{sfn|Kubelka|Šoštarić|2013|p=130}} According to their subjective preference, reviewers chose 53% of articles in Croatian Encyclopedia as their preferred article version, while only 19.5% of Wikipedia articles were preferred, with 27% of articles being assessed as equal in quality.{{sfn|Kubelka|Šoštarić|2013|p=131}}

{{see also|Far-right politics in Croatia}}

File:HrWiki Jutarnji refutation notice 2013-09-14.jpg by Jutarnji list"]]

In September 2013, complaints about right-wing bias of administrators and editors on the Croatian Wikipedia began to receive attention from the media, following the launch of a Facebook page titled Razotkrivanje sramotne hr.wikipedije ({{Transliteration|hr|Exposing the disgraceful Croatian Wikipedia}}) which was created with the intent of bringing attention to the issue. According to Jurica Pavičić, a professor at the University of Split and Jutarnji list columnist, the gradual takeover of the Croatian Wikipedia was started in 2009 by "a small group of conservative administrators" who blocked editors for having "liberal-to-moderate views on controversial topics".{{cite web |url=https://www.dailydot.com/politics/croatian-wikipedia-fascist-takeover-controversy-right-wing |title=How pro-fascist ideologues are rewriting Croatia's history |last=Sampson |first=Tim |work=dailydot.com |access-date=July 1, 2015 |date=October 1, 2013}}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/08/04/mens-rights-activists-think-a-hateful-feminist-conspiracy-is-ruining-wikipedia/ |title=Men's rights activists think a "hateful" feminist conspiracy is ruining Wikipedia |last=Dewey |first=Caitlin |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=8 April 2020 |date=4 August 2014}} Reported examples of bias include historical negationism such as watering-down and denial of the crimes committed by the Ustaše regime, and equating anti-fascism with forms of totalitarianism.{{cite web |url=http://inserbia.info/news/2013/09/fascist-movement-takes-over-croatian-wikipedia/ |title=Fascist movement takes over Croatian Wikipedia? |publisher=InSerbia News |access-date=13 September 2013 |archive-date=29 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929160901/http://inserbia.info/news/2013/09/fascist-movement-takes-over-croatian-wikipedia/ |url-status=dead }} Other issues included the bias against Serbs of Croatia and the LGBT population.[http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trolls-hijack-wikipedia-turn-articles-against-gays170913 Trolls hijack Wikipedia to turn articles against gays] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708223852/https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trolls-hijack-wikipedia-turn-articles-against-gays170913/ |date=2018-07-08 }}, Gay Star News[https://www.crol.hr/portal/aktivizam-politika/ljudi/4840-tko-prepravlja-lgbt-hrvatsku-na-wikipediji.html Tko prepravlja LGBT Hrvatsku na Wikipediji?] Editors who tried to remove the biased sections were reportedly being harassed by administrators and quickly received permanent blocks under various pretexts.{{cite web |url=https://www.tportal.hr/scitech/znanost/285495/Kako-je-hrvatsku-Wikipediju-uzurpirala-ustasoidna-desnica.html |title=Kako je hrvatsku Wikipediju uzurpirala ustašoidna desnica |date=11 September 2013 |work=Tportal |trans-title=How did pro-Ustasha right-wing editors take Croatian Wikipedia |access-date=11 September 2013 |language=hr}} The issue was reported by Croatia's daily Jutarnji list and even made its print edition's front page on 11 September 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.jutarnji.hr/radikalni-desnicari-preuzeli-uredivanje-hr-wikipedije--ndh-nije-svjesno-bila-totalitarna--a-antifasizam-se-bori-protiv-svih-sloboda-/1125398/ |title=Desničari preuzeli uređivanje hrvatske Wikipedije |work=Jutarnji list |date=10 September 2013 |trans-title=Right-wing editors took over the Croatian Wikipedia |access-date=11 September 2013 |language=hr |archive-date=25 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325014957/http://www.jutarnji.hr/radikalni-desnicari-preuzeli-uredivanje-hr-wikipedije--ndh-nije-svjesno-bila-totalitarna--a-antifasizam-se-bori-protiv-svih-sloboda-/1125398/ |url-status=dead }}

Two days later, Croatia's Minister of Science, Education and Sports, Željko Jovanović, called for students in Croatia to avoid using Croatian Wikipedia.{{cite web |url=http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Hrvatska/Jovanovic-Djeco-ne-baratajte-hrvatskom-Wikipedijom-jer-su-sadrzaji-falsificirani |title=Jovanović: Djeco, ne baratajte hrvatskom Wikipedijom jer su sadržaji falsificirani |work=Novi list |date=13 September 2013 |trans-title=Jovanović: "Children, do not use the Croatian Wikipedia because its contents are forgeries" |access-date=13 September 2013 |language=hr}} In an interview with Novi list, Jovanović stated:

the idea of openness and relevance as a knowledge source that Wikipedia could and should represent has been completely discredited – which, for certain, has never been the goal of Wikipedia's creators nor the huge number of people around the world who share their knowledge and time using that medium. Croatian pupils and students have been wronged by this, so we have to warn them, unfortunately, that a large part of the content of the Croatian version of Wikipedia is not only dubious but also [contains] obvious forgeries, and therefore we invite them to use more reliable sources of information, which include Wikipedia in English and in other major languages of the world.

In 2013, in an interview given to Index.hr, Robert Kurelić, a professor of history at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, commented that "the Croatian Wikipedia is only a tool used by its administrators to promote their own political agendas, giving false and distorted facts".{{cite news |url=https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/jovanoviceva-poruka-ucenicima-i-studentima-ne-koristite-hrvatsku-wikipediju/700302.aspx |title=Jovanovićeva poruka učenicima i studentima: Ne koristite hrvatsku Wikipediju! |work=Index.hr |trans-title=Jovanović's message to pupils and students: Don't use Croatian Wikipedia! |date=13 September 2013 |access-date=13 September 2013 |language=hr}} Some examples he listed include the Croatian Wikipedia's coverage of the term {{lang|hr|Istrijanstvo}} (Istrian identity), defined as a "movement fabricated to reduce the number of Croats", and {{lang|hr|antifašizam}} (anti-fascism), which according to him was defined as the opposite of what it really means. Kurelić further advised,

{{Blockquote|text=that it would be good if a larger number of people got engaged and started writing on Wikipedia [...] administrators want to exploit high-school and university students, the most common users of Wikipedia, to change their opinions and attitudes, which presents a serious issue.}}

Also in 2013, Snježana Koren, a historian at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, judged the disputed articles as "biased and malicious, partly even illiterate", in an interview with Croatian news agency HINA. She further added that "These are the types of articles you can find on the pages of fringe organizations and movements, but there should be no place for that on Wikipedia", expressing doubts on the ability of its authors to distinguish good from evil. Koren concluded that the ulterior motive of such writings was to rehabilitate the Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state of Nazi Germany, and that "there is no other way to characterize such efforts than as Ustaše movement".{{cite news |url=http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Hrvatska/Hr.wikipedija-pod-povecalom-zbog-falsificiranja-hrvatske-povijesti |title=Hr.wikipedija pod povećalom zbog falsificiranja hrvatske povijesti |work=Novi list |trans-title=Croatian Wikipedia under scrutiny for fabricating Croatian history |agency=HINA |date=15 September 2013 |access-date=15 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221045040/http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Hrvatska/Hr.wikipedija-pod-povecalom-zbog-falsificiranja-hrvatske-povijesti |archive-date=2013-12-21 |url-status=dead |language=hr}}

The Croatian Wikipedia page on the Jasenovac concentration camp was regarded as a prime example of its historical negationism and distortions.{{cite web |website=International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) |url=https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-holocaust-denial-distortion |title=Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion |access-date=October 17, 2024}} Distortion of the Holocaust refers, inter alia, to:
{{columns-list |colwidth=35em |

• Intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the impact of the Holocaust or its principal elements, including collaborators and allies of Nazi Germany
• Gross minimization of the number of the victims of the Holocaust in contradiction to reliable sources
• Attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide
• Statements that cast the Holocaust as a positive historical event. Those statements are not Holocaust denial but are closely connected to it as a radical form of antisemitism. They may suggest that the Holocaust did not go far enough in accomplishing its goal of "the Final Solution of the Jewish Question"
• Attempts to blur the responsibility for the establishment of concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi Germany by putting blame on other nations or ethnic groups}} The Croatian version of the page referred to the WWII Jasenovac concentration camp as a "collection camp" and labour camp, downplayed the crimes committed there as well as the number of victims, and relied on "right-wing media and private blogs" for "a large number" of its references. Hrvoje Klasić, also a historian at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, stated to the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in 2018 that "although Jasenovac was in part a labour camp, referring to it as that alone is misleading", arguing that "referring to Jasenovac as simply a collection and labour camp is to use 'the same language' as Ustasa propaganda", and also added that "a number of articles and topics are done in a completely revisionist manner [on the Croatian Wikipedia], with highly emphasised nationalist and, I would dare to say, pro-Ustasa sentiment".
• {{cite magazine |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-state-sponsored-disinformation |title=The Hunt for Wikipedia's Disinformation Moles |date=October 17, 2022 |access-date=October 17, 2024 |quote=Wikipedia has been battling inaccuracies and false information for 21 years. One of the most long-running disinformation attempts went on for more than a decade after a group of ultra-nationalists gamed Wikipedia's administrator rules to take over the Croatian-language community, rewriting history to rehabilitate World War II fascist leaders of the country.}}
• {{cite web |website=Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council |url=https://aijac.org.au/australia-israel-review/essay-wikipedias-jewish-problem |title=Essay: Wikipedia's Jewish Problem |first=Izabella |last=Tabarovsky |date=August 14, 2024 |access-date=October 17, 2024 |quote=Last year two historians published a bombshell paper demonstrating how a group [...] systematically distorting Polish Jewish history across multiple Wikipedia articles to align it with far-right Polish nationalist preferences. Working in concert, the group falsified evidence, promoted marginal self-published sources, created fake references, and advanced antisemitic stereotypes [...] Another case involved Croatian-language Wikipedia. There, a right-wing group [...] whitewash the history of World War II-era Croatian fascist organisation Ustaše, its Nazi puppet Independent State of Croatia (NDH), and the Jasenovac extermination camp.}}

File:Croatian WP Disinformation Assessment - Final Report EN.pdf. The group has been using its positions of power to attract new like-minded contributors, silence and ban dissenters, manipulate community elections and subvert Wikipedia's and the broader movement's native conflict resolution mechanisms.}}]]

In 2021, the Wikimedia Foundation posted a job ad for a disinformation evaluator position, with the aim to further examine disputed content on the Croatian Wikipedia.{{cite web |title=Wikipedija u obračunu s dezinformacijama na hrvatskom: Objavili oglas za novo radno mjesto |url=https://www.tportal.hr/tehno/clanak/wikipedija-u-obracunu-s-dezinformacijama-na-hrvatskom-objavili-oglas-za-novo-radno-mjesto-20210113 |access-date=2021-01-31 |website=tportal.hr |language=hr}}{{better source needed|date=October 2024|reason=English translation and English secondary resources needed}} In March 2021, a number of changes were made to remove administrative access from a group of editors considered responsible for the entire affair,{{Explain|reason=What exact actions were taken? How many admins were de-adminned or banned? Did this have a positive effect? There's a lot of text in this article talking about the problem, and not much talking about the fix and aftermath.|date=February 2023}} some of whom had their names published in Croatian media.{{cite news |url=https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/hrvatska-wikipedija-konacno-prestaje-biti-ustasko-ruglo/2262043.aspx |title=Hrvatska Wikipedija konačno prestaje biti ustaško ruglo |first=Nenad |last=Jarić Dauenahuer |date=23 March 2021 |access-date=10 July 2021 |work=Index.hr |language=hr}}{{better source needed|date=October 2024|reason=English translation and secondary English sources needed}} One of these was exposed to be a known far-right web portal editor, who passed off his self-published materials as "reliable sources" on the Croatian Wikipedia.{{cite news |url=https://www.portalnovosti.com/pocetak-kraja-endehapedije |date=16 March 2021 |access-date=10 July 2021 |first=Lovro |last=Krnić |title=Početak kraja Endehapedije |newspaper=Novosti |language=hr}} In April 2021, an article was published by the Western Balkans edition of Radio Free Europe stating how the situation of the Croatian-language Wikipedia has finally changed and that the correction of problematic articles was in progress.{{Cite news |last=Zebić |first=Enis |date=6 April 2021 |url=https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/demontaža-revizionističkih-sadržaja-u-hrvatskoj-wikipediji/31189567.html |title=Demontaža revizionističkih sadržaja u hrvatskoj Wikipediji |trans-title=The dismantling of revisionist content on Croatian Wikipedia |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |website=slobodnaevropa.org |access-date=27 July 2024 |language=sh}} Editing activity picked up from 2020 through early 2022, with over 200 editors making at least 5 edits a month. {{As of|2024|july}}, there were about 135 editors making at least 5 edits a month.

In June 2021, Wikimedia published a Croatian Wikipedia Disinformation Assessment, which was conducted by an external expert. The report concluded that "a group of Croatian language Wikipedia (Hr.WP) admins held undue de facto control over the project at least from 2011 to 2020. During that time, the group intentionally distorted the content presented in Croatian language Wikipedia articles in a way that matched the narratives of political organisations and groups that can broadly be defined as the Croatian radical right." According to the assessment, the administrators had abused their power to ban dissidents and selectively enforce and break rules, resulting in project capture.

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• {{citation |title=Wikipedija nasuprot Hrvatskoj enciklopediji, kvalitativan odnos slobodno i tradicionalno uređenoga enciklopedijskoga sadržaja na hrvatskom jeziku |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/114405 |trans-title=Wikipedia opposite the Croatian Encyclopedia, a qualitative relation between a freely and a traditionally edited encyclopedic text in Croatian |last1=Kubelka |first1=Ozren |first2=Petra |last2=Šoštarić |type=PDF |journal=Studia lexicographica |pages=119–133 |access-date=July 20, 2018 |publisher=Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute |year=2013 |location=Zagreb |volume=9 |language=hr}}

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• {{cite web |title=Hrvati koji pišu najveću svjetsku enciklopediju |date=18 February 2007 |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/arhiva/hrvati-koji-pisu-najvecu-svjetsku-enciklopediju/3844059/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021172446/http://www.jutarnji.hr/hrvati-koji-pisu-najvecu-svjetsku-enciklopediju/213584/ |archive-date=2012-10-21 |work=Jutarnji list |url-status=live |language=hr}}
• {{cite web |url=https://arhiva.nacional.hr/clanak/22032/hrvatski-junaci-wikipedije |title=Hrvatski junaci Wikipedije |work=Nacional |trans-title=Croatian heroes of Wikipedia |last1=Simić |first1=Tanja |date=12 December 2005 |access-date=7 July 2012 |archive-date=13 June 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613170653/http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/22032/hrvatski-junaci-wikipedije |language=hr}}

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