should we professionalize journalism by administering national board exams?

Answer 1

We should teach refresher courses in ethics and integrity. We need to remind journalists that their job is to dig up and present the facts, not editorialize.

Answer 2

I believe that board exams are basically worthless. I took them to become a real estate agent, and they don't have much to do with being a good agent, and definitely don't make you into an ethical one. We have watchdog groups like the Board of Realtors, but reality is, there are unethical agents that know they can get away with it.

My husband is in the plumbing business, and their license is pretty worthless, too. I suspect, most of the exams that professionals have are mostly to prove you are somewhat educated,etc.

However, your point is excellent. There has to be some kind of accountability for journalists. Propaganda is out of control, and journalists are even self proclaimed biased. Over the last 10-20 years, it has become completely out of control, and something needs to be done. Freedom of speech has been taken WAY BEYOND what it was intended to protect, and the media is to blame for so many problems of today.

One idea I have, is that when a misprint or omission is made, or a person was quoted out of context, etc. first, the correction cannot be made on some back page in tiny little letters. It has to be put in the same place and in the same size as the original incorrect story.

There are many people with great minds that could come up with some sort of way that journalists would have to keep to their industries standards of giving a fair story that readers can count on. I hope it happens soon.

Answer 3

It wouldn't work in journalism. You really can't graduate with a journalism degree without learning to write well. So if the exam tested skills/knowledge, everyone would do fine.

But the problem with journalism today isn't in the skill level, it's how the skills are used. For example anyone who has a journalism degree (yes, I do) learns some basics. .. . like the difference between hard news and op-ed. Today's newspapers how that many of these people who DO know the difference have chosen to ignore it. Major newspapers choose to put op-ed on the front page and call it balanced news.

The industry needs some change, and as the public trusts it less, it will be forced to change. It has gone from having a chief goal of disseminating info for the average citizen to read and evaluate, to force-feeding specific information in a blind effort to mold public thought to its own agenda.

In other words, when we depend on a free media to give us good information - and complete information - so that we can decide intelligently on an issue, that press owes us balanced reporting. AS they increasingly deny that to us. . . second-guessing public intelligence. . . we trust them less and less. Again, it will eventually be forced to change.

But nat'l exams would be impractical because you can't test a person's ethics in an exam.

We should just slap them all silly instead. :)

See my blog article on this subject: http://askew.blogharbor.com/blog/CommonSense/_archives/2006/11/13/2497704.html