Shared Reality: 25 Years of Wikipedia

An exploration of 25 years of Wikipedia - one of the world's most visited websites - told through a chorus of new interviews and BBC archive.

From its early reputation for unreliability through to polling showing it had surpassed news outlets like the BBC in terms of public trust, this documentary unravels the stories that sit beneath this body of 7,256,799 articles (on English Wikipedia at the time of writing) and more than 68 million articles across the 348 active language editions of the site.

A non-profit, driven by volunteers, we hear from editors past and present - like the author Nicholson Baker and Depths of Wikipedia's Annie Rauwerda; from the doctors who helped shape the first page on COVID-19 in the earliest days of the pandemic and from the journalist Stephen Harrison who transformed his years covering the site into a thriller exploring political intrigue and corporate manipulation.

With readings from Wikipedia by former continuity announcer Charlotte Green

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4