this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2024
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Showerthoughts

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

[…] However simply doing a bit of work does not earn you the title, just like replacing a light switch at your house does not make you an electrician […]

Hm, I'm not sure that that's a fair comparison. If it is assumed that an electrician must be licensed in order to practice as one (and assuming that they can only call themself an electrician if they practice as one), do journalists have similar requirements? I may simply be ignorant, but I've not found any examples that a journalist must be licensed in order to practice. Such licensing feels like it would start infringing on fundamental rights.

[–] helpImTrappedOnline 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

No you don't need a license to be a journalist.

My thought was more about the scale of the project. For a journalists, just fact checking someone online doesn't make you a journalists. If you went out to fact check something at the source, compiled a bunch of evidence and presented it publicly, then you'd call your self a journalist.

Back to the electrician (ignoring license requirements), swapping out a light switch isn't much, but if you learned how to rewired a whole house, install panels, ceilings fans, etc - you'd call you self an electrition.

And you're right, the electrician is kind of a bad comparison.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

[…] For a journalists, just fact checking someone online doesn’t make you a journalists. If you went out to fact check something at the source, compiled a bunch of evidence and presented it publicly, then you’d call your self a journalist. […]

I agree ­— it fits by definition ^[1]^, at the very least.

References

  1. "journalism". Merriam-Webster. Accessed: 2024-12-12T01:09Z. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/journalism.
    • §2.b.

      writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation