Circular Reference in Wikipedia?

From the soap opera that is Sarah Palin: (from BJ)

Amy Gwin, 43, of University City, grew up in Alaska and competed in the Miss Wasilla, Alaska, competition in 1984 against GOP vice presidential choice Sarah Palin. Gwin said Friday that she won the Miss Congeniality award in the competition, although Palin’s Wikipedia entry says she won the contest — and the Miss Congeniality award.

The "Miss Congeniality" claim was reported on a Market Watch article on 8/29/2008 (and cited as documented evidence on her most current wikipedia version). However, the same "miss congeniality" claim existed prior to 8/29/2008 and without citation (here's the 8/26/2008 version of her page, for example).

Could this be a case where a news article reference a claim from wikipedia and then is itself used as proof of the said claim in wikipedia?

There are obviously far more mundane explanations for this, such as the fact that both the reporter and wikipedia have the same primary source. But it does make me wonder if there should be a mechanism within wikipedia to detect and account for such occurrences.