

Ask HN:  Why certify pilots but not journalists in their area of coverage? - amichail

Just as pilot certification is critical for public safety, one could argue that journalists should also be certified in their area of coverage.<p>For example, uncertified journalists could mislead the public on various technologies resulting in the failure of startups that should really have succeeded for the better public good.<p>To preserve freedom of speech, one might simply have journalists certified in the area on which they have written an article indicate this so that their article is taken more seriously.
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Tangurena
This stands as much chance of happening as licensing or certifying software
developers.

And news agencies have long since stopped caring about "the better public
good" and caring only about quarterly numbers of their stock prices. Even if
there was some sort of "certified" journalist, an uncertified editor could
easily truncate or otherwise alter an article into unintelligibility.

Furthermore, this won't stop news agencies from suppressing news. For example,
_The State_ had copies of Sanford's emails to his mistress for 6 months, and
chose to neither publish them, nor question the governor. As another example,
newspapers such as _NY Times_ and _Washington Post_ chose to conceal the
warrantless wiretappings for more than a year. If they had released the news
when they got it, in Oct 2004, there would never have been a 2nd term for
bush. Likewise, the news media in the US chose to conceal the Abu Ghirab
torture abuses for more than a year. What are they hiding now? How would
"certifying" or "licensing" them force them into revealing news that they
don't want to publish?

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TallGuyShort
Freedom of Press is guaranteed in the constitution. Freedom to be a Pilot is
not. Countries that seriously consider journalism a potential threat DO place
severe limitations on who can publish things.

Also, if a journalist screws up, they lose credibility. If a pilot screws up,
there's no second chance for anybody on board, or anybody who owned the
damaged property.

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amichail
You can still have freedom of the press, but additionally have journalists who
are certified in a topic indicate this so that their articles on that topic
are taken more seriously.

~~~
TallGuyShort
That's why it's illegal to represent yourself as a doctor when giving medical
advice through a publication, unless you actually are a doctor. That's why the
FDA has to approve medical advertisements. That's why people take CNN more
seriously than they take the National Enquirer.

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gaius
Because certification of journalists is contradictory to freedom of the press.

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noodle
because pilots' actions lead directly to loss of life and property damage if
they screw up?

~~~
bwhite
You're looking at this backwards. Current pilots love the certification
process, it is a barrier to entry and a way to achieve seniority faster.

See [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/01...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/01/30/AR2007013001654.html) for the story about how
the pilots union hated the retirement age limit until a bunch of younger
pilots started joining the union. All of a sudden the upstarts had the
majority vote and lo and behold, the age limits are imposed.

Certification of pilots is not imposed out of a desire to assure safety; it's
because the lawmakers are lobbied by the pilots themselves.

Journalists would also love to be licensed, that way that upstart rapscallion
Drudge and those dastardly blogs would stop eating into their business.

Ask Richard Jewell if misguided/malicious journalists matter.

~~~
noodle
i'm not saying that malicious journalists don't matter. i'm saying that it is
substantively different. i'm also not saying that the certification process
isn't something pilots like, i have pilots in the family.

journalists do have certifications and credentials that prove their worth. its
a lack of care on the part of the industry and a lack of care in the consumer
base that is causing a problem.

i want the best pilot to fly my plane, because if they mess up, i die. i have
a lower barrier of entry for where my information comes from, because if they
mess up, i might look dumb, might make a few mistakes but i'm almost
definitely not going to die.

