4 ms·

But the journalist is likely more of an expert on the issues. While there are great comments on HN and Reddit, there are also a lot of arm chair "experts," who

But the journalist is likely more of an expert on the issues. While there are great comments on HN and Reddit, there are also a lot of arm chair "experts," who now have just as much exposure as real experts. If these scheme is to be productive, we'd need to add some way to assess people's qualifications when we read their comments.

buboard 8y ago
The media can "create" experts a lot more convincingly. In fact it's very hard for someone to gain "expert" status on reddit for example. It's hard to do it when your historic timeline is visible at every point (see also: paul krugman). It's easier for a mediocre journalist to hide behind her newspaper's brand (you see it every day with fluff filler pieces). Expertise is a perception problem , and perception can easily be gamed. It happens in mainstream media too, but it's harded to measure there than on the internet. I don't think we need to regress back to experts, that's always a power play. Giving people a plurality of opinions works better.