Harry Paidas| Special to The Alliance Review

As readers of this column for the past 14 years would know, I have been reluctant to describe myself as a runner and have opted instead to use the term shogger.

I coined the word shog to describe my gait, which is a combination of shuffling and jogging and features glacier-like speed.Despite having logged thousands of miles and run nine marathons, it would be a misnomer to describe myself as a runner.

The term runner needs to be reserved for people like Jesse Owens, Roger Bannister, Paula Radcliffe and Usain Bolt, who dedicated their lives to being the best at what they do and establishing an elite level of competition.By virtue of their records, they are credentialed to be labeled runners, while people like me who aspire to be great but are satisfied with winning my age group in a 5K (when I am the sole entrant) need to respect the term runner and avoid it.

For me to use the term runner as a self-description is tantamount to a non-credentialed professional using a title reserved for those who have earned the credential.For example, in order for teachers, doctors and attorneys to be credentialed, they must attain a certain level of education and in many cases pass specified exams to earn their titles.

Yes, there are teachers aides, STNAs, and paralegals, all of whom represent valuable and hard-working professions, but it takes that little extra bit of schooling and experience (and money) to earn the title of teacher, doctor or attorney.Our society has created this hierarchy and much of the trust in these professions is based on the credentialing.

This credentialing phenomenon leads me to another area in my life that is considerably more serious than my shogging pastime.I spent my education dollars and most of my career either teaching or practicing in a profession known as journalism.You know that profession that has recently been labeled as the enemy of the people and fake news.

While the profession has been less than perfect with its own share of scandals and imposters who pose as bloggers and call themselves journalists, the consumer of information needs to be as discerning about the messenger of information as they are about whom they choose as a doctor or whom they hire as an attorney.

To flip on the news or read an online article and take it at face value is the equivalent of going to a doctor who you dont know anything about and accepting what that doctor says about your health.Believe it or not, real journalists, like most other professions, are credentialed and some are more credible than others.

How do you know whom to believe?The same way you would research a doctor who was about to perform a major operation, you should perform a background check on the doctor using the research tools that are available online.Likewise, if you dont trust a talking head or reporter that you are watching on television, do an online search and check out their credentials.Do they have a degree in journalism or mass communication?Where is the degree from is the institution credible?

I think if the consumer of information would do this, he or she would find that many of the people who are passing themselves off as journalists, do not have a journalism degree and have learned on the fly. On the other hand, the majority of reporters and anchors are credible journalists.

Most of the blame for this confusion should fall on the network heads who have ignored the impact of the historically trusted journalism sources like David Brinkley and Walter Cronkite and hired entertainment journalists who tout their biases and confuse the public as to what is objective and subjective news.

As mentioned several times in this column, my masters degree in journalism is from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.While in grad school I worked for Sig Mickelson, the former head of CBS News, who hired Walter Cronkite.Medill has produced a litany of top-notch journalists who work across the broad spectrum of networks.

At Medill, we were taught the importance of objectivity and the necessity of having multiple sources when reporting on controversial issues.For those of us credentialed in newsgathering and news reporting it is an outrage to have the leaders of our country try to fool the public into thinking that they are the ones who are objective and that we are the enemy of the people.

Perhaps it is time to require credentialing of our government officials. It wont happen in my lifetime but imagine a curriculum whereby all office seekers would be required to take courses before they could run for office. Courses in civility, human behavior, and leadership would have to be among the requirements.

The reality is the media are not the enemy of the people.In a democracy, the free press is a necessary part of the equation that includes a government of the people.Those who insist on identifying their fellow citizens with labels and use divisive measures to effect change need to realize that name-calling and derision are uncalled for creating an atmosphere that gives rise to unnecessary antagonism.

The real enemy is ignorance and no credentials are needed to beat down that foe.

Harry Paidas is faculty emeritus at Mount Union and writes a monthly column for The Review.He can be reached atpaidashp@mountunion.edu.

Excerpt from:
Harry Paidas: Look for credentials to uncover imposters - The-review