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No, Journalism and Software are not the same. Would you make the same argument that software on the 737 Max should be shipped and then fixed later? Absolutely n

No, Journalism and Software are not the same. Would you make the same argument that software on the 737 Max should be shipped and then fixed later? Absolutely not. Journalists need to understand that what they write has real-world impact and can actually lead to lot of unnecessary anguish if they publish things that are not true. Truth should always be paramount to speed in journalism. You can't always correct your mistakes as a journalist because most people only see 1 version of your draft and don't wait around for later corrections before jumping to conclusions.

davvolun 7y ago
> Would you make the same argument that software on the 737 Max should be shipped and then fixed later? No, I wouldn't, but that goes to why not ALL software should be agile, not that it's best to have some journalism be "agile." I was going to mention space flight regarding software mistakes (https://itsfoss.com/a-floating-point-error-that-caused-a-damage-worth-half-a-billion/ https://itsfoss.com/a-floating-point-error-that-caused-a-dam...), but figured it was more of a digression than it was on-topic.
- blackflame 7y ago
  But all journalism has the potential to become viral and once that happens you will never be able to fix the damage you've already done.
  - blackflame 7y ago
    "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Winston S. Churchill
    - stoicShell 7y ago
      Allow me to reply, I think you've misunderstood parent's point: - there is a spectrum of "importance" to software: a shopping app crashing is generally less critical than medical software crashing during surgery. - there is a spectrum of "importance" to the news: surely the benefit and damage of reporting on Netflix's latest show is lesser than reporting on an incoming tsunami. If you are warned upon fast release of a piece of news of "lesser impact" that it's "unverified", "untrusted source", etc., then you get to choose the impact: you either wait for further confirmation or act now, that's on you. Conversely, for the "important" part of the spectrum, then we all agree that like critical software, it must be vetted and validated before release. There's no question about that. As for where to draw the line, it's anywhere each particular new outlet feels it should be; but the mention of where we are on that spectrum should be at least industry-wide ethics for the Press, and enforced by regulation if necessary (see other comments for great suggestions about how to indicate trustworthiness of information, extent of research, sources, etc).
      - blackflame 7y ago
        As a journalist, you don't get to determine importance because you don't what people value, who is going to read your stuff, and who they are going to tell about it. A large number of people think Kim Kardashian is the most important news. I think it's you who misunderstands.

davvolun 7y ago

> Would you make the same argument that software on the 737 Max should be shipped and then fixed later? No, I wouldn't, but that goes to why not ALL software should be agile, not that it's best to have some journalism be "agile." I was going to mention space flight regarding software mistakes (https://itsfoss.com/a-floating-point-error-that-caused-a-damage-worth-half-a-billion/ https://itsfoss.com/a-floating-point-error-that-caused-a-dam...), but figured it was more of a digression than it was on-topic.

blackflame 7y ago
But all journalism has the potential to become viral and once that happens you will never be able to fix the damage you've already done.
- blackflame 7y ago
  "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Winston S. Churchill
  - stoicShell 7y ago
    Allow me to reply, I think you've misunderstood parent's point: - there is a spectrum of "importance" to software: a shopping app crashing is generally less critical than medical software crashing during surgery. - there is a spectrum of "importance" to the news: surely the benefit and damage of reporting on Netflix's latest show is lesser than reporting on an incoming tsunami. If you are warned upon fast release of a piece of news of "lesser impact" that it's "unverified", "untrusted source", etc., then you get to choose the impact: you either wait for further confirmation or act now, that's on you. Conversely, for the "important" part of the spectrum, then we all agree that like critical software, it must be vetted and validated before release. There's no question about that. As for where to draw the line, it's anywhere each particular new outlet feels it should be; but the mention of where we are on that spectrum should be at least industry-wide ethics for the Press, and enforced by regulation if necessary (see other comments for great suggestions about how to indicate trustworthiness of information, extent of research, sources, etc).
    - blackflame 7y ago
      As a journalist, you don't get to determine importance because you don't what people value, who is going to read your stuff, and who they are going to tell about it. A large number of people think Kim Kardashian is the most important news. I think it's you who misunderstands.