It’s oft been said (Hemingway?) that the one tool a journalist requires is a good bullshit detector. That’s because, in an idealized world, the task of the journalist is to take the all of the myriad information that’s flying around, sort it from the chaff of rumour, advertising and innuendo, and present to his or her readers a “truth” that they can trust.
Oh, idealism.
Of course, journalism’s never been like that, though many journalists have struggled mightily. But one of the consequences of the Internet and our info-filled society is that it’s forced just about everyone into a similar role.
Surrounded by information — much of it misleading, or downright false — we’ve all had to develop our own internal bullshit detectors. Judging by some of the chain emails I get, some people are worse at this than others.
However, it’s impossible to simply rely on journalists to be good gatekeepers anymore. In the first place, there’s too much information flying around; we’re bombarded with it, continually.
And secondly, journalisms itself is being squeezed — more and faster deadlines, smaller budgets, and fewer people, all dealing with the same info-onslaught.
So, sometimes, though I loath to admit it, the ideal of journalism suffers. Sometimes, it’s just not up to snuff. Sometimes, we journalists basically copy a press release and call it a story. Sometimes, we don’t have time to dig up the dirt, or to challenge our sources.
And, as British comedian Tom Scott figured out, the public should be warned:
It seems a bit strange to me that the media carefully warn about and label any content that involves sex, violence or strong language — but there’s no similar labelling system for, say, sloppy journalism and other questionable content.
So he made labels, which he’s been sticking on the free commuter papers in London. Here’s a couple of my favourites:
I also liked “WARNING Journalist hiding their own opinions by using phrases like “some people claim”” and “WARNING To ensure future interviews with subject, important questions were not asked.” which I see all the time.
There’s a bunch more, and he’s helpfully provided a pdf that you can download from his site (mirrored here) so you can print your own on a sheet of stickers.
Boing Boing suggests using them as part of a journalism course. Hmmmm.
