Talk:States News Service
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Edit request: unsourced "closed 2004" claim and incorrect birth year
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1. The "closed in June 2004" / "defunct" claim is not reliably sourced. The statement that the service "closed in June 2004" is cited only to a LinkedIn profile. Per WP:RS and WP:SPS, LinkedIn is not a reliable source, and in any case the June 2004 date there only marks the end of Leland J. Schwartz's listed tenure as editor and publisher — it does not state that the service closed. Treating the end of a personal job entry as the company's closure is synthesis. The service has operated continuously since 1973 and remains in operation; its current website is https://statesnewsservice.com/ . I would ask that the "defunct" / "closed in 2004" characterization be removed from the lead and the infobox, and that the service no longer be described as closed.
2. Birth year. The article gives Leland J. Schwartz's birth year as 1949, cited to a 1993 New York Times article and apparently derived from an age given there. His correct birth year is 1948. I would ask that it be corrected to 1948, or, if editors feel a precise year cannot be established from an age reference, that the specific year be removed rather than left incorrect (per WP:DOB).
Thank you. Skatebased (talk) 17:06, 23 July 2026 (UTC)
Not done: according to the page's protection level, you should be able to edit the page yourself. If you seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. LizardJr8 (talk) 19:14, 23 July 2026 (UTC)
- Reopening with stronger sourcing, per your note. States News Service currently operates as States News Service, Inc., an active Virginia stock corporation listed "Active and In Good Standing" (Virginia State Corporation Commission, Entity ID 08250730), with Leland J. Schwartz as president and registered agent — an official state record showing the company is a going concern today, so it should not be described as defunct. The Virginia entity was formed in 2017, so I am not asserting unbroken operation since 1973; only that, with an active company existing now, the flat "defunct / closed in June 2004" wording is inaccurate as a present-tense status. Schwartz's LinkedIn also lists the role as ongoing, though as a self-published source it is secondary to the state registration. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Skatebased (talk • contribs) 09:05, 24 July 2026 (UTC)
- @Skatebased, this reply makes me think you used an AI/LLM (such as ChatGPT) to write your answer. Please write your answers and edits yourself, and read people's replies. You didn't read LizardJr8's reply, they didn't even mention sourcing. I reverted your edits on the page; make a new COI edit request (using {{Edit COI}}), without using AI and using reliable sources. win8x (talk) 01:34, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- Also, if you are User:StatesNewsService, please disclose it. You won't get blocked for it. win8x (talk) 01:39, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- Hey win8x, did you look at the edits? Clearly, the information on the Wikipedia page before I edited it was wrong, and it's a shame that you reverted after i fixed it, from being factually accurate to something that is fabricated and unsourced. I will try to submit my edits again and really hope that you take the time and show the decency to go through them notice that I'm putting factual claims out there that have sourced information, and in good faith, you understand that having false information on Wikipedia is not helping anyone.. Please re-read this comment and with sincerity focus on the facts: States News Service currently operates as States News Service, Inc., an active Virginia stock corporation listed "Active and In Good Standing" (Virginia State Corporation Commission, Entity ID 08250730), with Leland J. Schwartz as president and registered agent — an official state record showing the company is a going concern today, so it should not be described as defunct. The Virginia entity was formed in 2017, so I am not asserting unbroken operation since 1973; only that, with an active company existing now, the flat "defunct / closed in June 2004" wording is inaccurate as a present-tense status. Schwartz's LinkedIn also lists the role as ongoing, though as a self-published source it is secondary to the state registration. ---- Nowhere does any official source seem to claim it closed in 2004. Thanks for your time, win8x - let us both continue to help keep the resource of wikipedia truthful. m Skatebased (talk) 08:25, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- I did look at the edits. To me, they seemed biased and showed a conflict of interest. Although you are allowed to edit the article, you are strongly discouraged from doing so, you'd have to be perfect in your execution. Stick with the COI edit request and wait; COI edit requests are very difficult to handle, and you'll probably have to wait 3+ months for a good answer.
- I also repeat my question: Are you User:StatesNewsService, and are you paid for your edits to Wikipedia? win8x (talk) 14:11, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- Hi win8x - yeah, that was me. I created User:StatesNewsService before I understood the username policy and then I have this account also after the other one was blocked. I'm working at States News Service, Inc. and the son of its founder. No one pays me to edit Wikipedia specifically like it's not my job to be on here and post anything but it's weird for me to see Wikipedia say its defunct when I know it isn't — I've put the paid/COI disclosure on my user page. Per WP:PAID and WP:COI I now know not to edit the article directly, sorry for that and I'll stick with the edit request and wait. I'm new to Wikipedia editing and I'm sorry if I caused an issue - also, you are quite the detective :) I feel like this is an episode of Scooby-Doo — where I'm the guy unmasked at the end of the episode. Skatebased (talk) 18:47, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- Hey win8x, did you look at the edits? Clearly, the information on the Wikipedia page before I edited it was wrong, and it's a shame that you reverted after i fixed it, from being factually accurate to something that is fabricated and unsourced. I will try to submit my edits again and really hope that you take the time and show the decency to go through them notice that I'm putting factual claims out there that have sourced information, and in good faith, you understand that having false information on Wikipedia is not helping anyone.. Please re-read this comment and with sincerity focus on the facts: States News Service currently operates as States News Service, Inc., an active Virginia stock corporation listed "Active and In Good Standing" (Virginia State Corporation Commission, Entity ID 08250730), with Leland J. Schwartz as president and registered agent — an official state record showing the company is a going concern today, so it should not be described as defunct. The Virginia entity was formed in 2017, so I am not asserting unbroken operation since 1973; only that, with an active company existing now, the flat "defunct / closed in June 2004" wording is inaccurate as a present-tense status. Schwartz's LinkedIn also lists the role as ongoing, though as a self-published source it is secondary to the state registration. ---- Nowhere does any official source seem to claim it closed in 2004. Thanks for your time, win8x - let us both continue to help keep the resource of wikipedia truthful. m Skatebased (talk) 08:25, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- Also, if you are User:StatesNewsService, please disclose it. You won't get blocked for it. win8x (talk) 01:39, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- @Skatebased, this reply makes me think you used an AI/LLM (such as ChatGPT) to write your answer. Please write your answers and edits yourself, and read people's replies. You didn't read LizardJr8's reply, they didn't even mention sourcing. I reverted your edits on the page; make a new COI edit request (using {{Edit COI}}), without using AI and using reliable sources. win8x (talk) 01:34, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
- Reopening with stronger sourcing, per your note. States News Service currently operates as States News Service, Inc., an active Virginia stock corporation listed "Active and In Good Standing" (Virginia State Corporation Commission, Entity ID 08250730), with Leland J. Schwartz as president and registered agent — an official state record showing the company is a going concern today, so it should not be described as defunct. The Virginia entity was formed in 2017, so I am not asserting unbroken operation since 1973; only that, with an active company existing now, the flat "defunct / closed in June 2004" wording is inaccurate as a present-tense status. Schwartz's LinkedIn also lists the role as ongoing, though as a self-published source it is secondary to the state registration. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Skatebased (talk • contribs) 09:05, 24 July 2026 (UTC)
COI edit request: operating status
| This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered. |
Because my edits were previously denied, I am requesting these changes here rather than editing the article directly. Please look at the facts here. Wikipedia should be accurate and this article is not, despite my hard work to correct them.
1. Please remove the infobox line "Defunct: June 2004" and change the short description "Defunct American news agency" to "American news agency." Reason: the company exists today as States News Service, Inc., a Virginia stock corporation, Entity ID 08250730, formed November 27, 2017, status "Active and In Good Standing," with Leland J. Schwartz as president and registered agent. Verifiable at the Virginia State Corporation Commission's Clerk's Information System: https://cis.scc.virginia.gov/EntitySearch/Index (search "States News Service" or the entity ID).
2. Please change the lead sentence "States News Service was a news agency that operated from 1973 to 2004." to: States News Service is a news agency that began in 1973 and currently operates as States News Service, Inc., an active Virginia corporation. Sources: the SCC record in item 1, plus National Press Club records — https://www.press.org/sites/default/files/November212005.pdf (2005 board minutes: "Leland Schwartz, media officer, States News Service"); https://www.press.org/sites/default/files/20090917_douglas.pdf (2009 luncheon transcript: "Leland Schwartz, editor, States News Service"); https://www.press.org/newsroom/club-welcomes-octobers-new-members-0 (2014: "Leland Schwartz (States News Service)") — and https://cagw.org/2009-congressional-pig-book/ (Citizens Against Government Waste, quoting a States News Service report of February 25, 2009).
3. Please remove the sentence "The States News Service closed in June 2004." Its only citation is a LinkedIn profile, which is not a reliable source per WP:RS, and the records in item 2 show the name in use in 2005, 2009, and 2014. There is currently nothing in the world that I can find on the Internet that shows it closed in 2004. It doesn't even look like the LinkedIn source currently says that, so I'm not sure why that information is being toted as factual.
4. Please update the infobox "Website" field from the dead link www.statesnews.com to https://statesnewsservice.com/ (the company's current website), and update the External links section to match. I know it's not an independent source but clearly the website claims to be the The States News Service that began in 1973.
Thank you for your time and thorough reading. I hope rather than rejecting these edits, you take the time to see the value in maintaining accurate information. Every claim I've made here is factual and worth looking into. Please do not reject these edits for no good reason. Having accurate and available information on Wikipedia is its goal after all.
Skatebased (talk) 08:55, 27 July 2026 (UTC)
Reply 8-AUG-2026
Clarification requested
- As the States News Service article uses WP:CS1, kindly provide the
|quote=parameter populated with text from the sources you're proposing to add which confirms the changes you're requesting to make. - When ready to proceed with the requested information, kindly change the {{Edit COI}} template's answer parameter to read from
|ans=yto|ans=n.
Thank you! Regards, Spintendo 21:48, 8 August 2026 (UTC)