Should news sources be "accredited"

[Takket]

I've been wondering how we combat fake news, Russian trolls that spread disinformation and hate radio/TV. Stopping this disaster from ever happening again could mean censoring the internet, something I don't think any of us what to see happen. So what do we do?

Should websites and media outlets that purport themselves to be legitimate need to be accredited, similar to how high schools and colleges are? Maybe we can't stop trolls and fake news outlets, but by accrediting legit sights, can we help sway some of the public away from them? Accredited outlets would need to register with the government and comply with certain standards of journalistic integrity, all audited by the government. Accredited outlets would be allowed to display a banner on their shows/webpages indicating that they meet the standards of a legit news outlet.

[onenote]

1. Easy one: No.

Would violate the first amendment. And with a global internet would be impossible to enforce unless you're in favor of the government deciding which websites you can access.

[BainsBane]

7. Not if accreditation was voluntary

but not required. It would serve as a kind of seal of approval for consumers.
The government definitely shouldn't be in charge of accreditation. That would be illegal.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Who would do the accrediting? That's the tricky part.

So... no.

[jmowreader]

5. How about a panel?

It will consist of:

the deans of the top three broadcast journalism schools, and the top three print journalism schools in the US

the managing editors of the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, New York Times, Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune and Austin American-Statesman*

the chief of the Associated Press

the head news directors at the three traditional broadcast networks, plus Fox, CNN and MSNBC

the head news directors at the highest-rated local stations in six major markets that didn't provide newspaper managing editors

Anyone who wants to become accredited needs to prepare a portfolio of maybe a dozen stories representative of the quality of work they produce, and send it to each of the people on the panel. If a majority votes to accredit the new agency, they're notified and sent a file of an "accreditation badge" they can add to their content.

* The reason for these six papers: they're big, reputable organs that cover the four corners of the US plus the middle of the country.

[BainsBane]

8. I'd keep the cable news people out of granting accredition

Organizations of journalists could be good though. Profit motive shouldn't enter into the process.

[jmowreader]

10. I assure you...

When you have one of these in the basement...



...everything you do has a profit motive. (Mine isn't nearly that big, but it wasn't free.)

[HoneyBadger]

3. I assume that you read 1984 in school

Accredited news sounds like rigorously censored news. Which only serves those that censor it.

[gulliver]

4. Yes, by a consortium of news organizations.

It doesn't have to be the government, and shouldn't be. But the idea that they could display a banner showing they are legit is definitely good. It could be like a BBB of news. Also, fact checking organizations could offer certification in addition to the industry policing itself.

The great thing about a consortium of news organizations is that they could make industry-wide editorial rules and could provide adjudication concerning those rules. That would allow, for example, all legitimate news organizations to simply ignore the WikiLeaks emails as a bloc. That way, no particular news organization in the group of legitimate organizations would feel that they could be scooped by another organization posting the Russian propaganda releases.

[tritsofme]

6. Yea, I really want the Trump administration "credentialing" and "stripping credentials" of the press

Great idea.

[moondust]

9. See how the Facebook thing goes.

DEC. 15, 2016

To fight the spread of fake news, Facebook on Thursday said it was trying a series of tests to limit the false articles, including working with several news organizations like The Associated Press, PolitiFact and Snopes. Those groups have formed a coalition to fact-check some of the items flagged as fake news across the social network.

~

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/technology/facebook-fact-checking-fake-news.html?_r=0

May get a better idea of what is workable.