Ask Lemmy

The importance of pundits has been diminishing for years now for several reasons:

The world is increasingly complex and opaque. If someone claims to know what's really going on, don't believe them.

A pundit's main talent these days is to be comfortable in front of a camera, and to be able to pontificate at length. This is only loosely connected with any actual expertise or experience they may have.

A successful pundit needs to be aware of the hosting organization's biases. If they go on a mainstream cable network with an anti-corporate message they will be swiftly shitcanned.

News orgs have been slashing budgets for overseas, on the ground reporting so we get pundits who have access to the same information as everyone else.

No more pundits, we need more creators! This is a good example,

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C53rriiRuIl/?igsh=MW5jdWF5MGltdDY5Nw==

We might need professional thinkers to give comments.

Yes, similar to the web of trust, there exists a web of trust for people based on reputation. Journalistic integrity, openness, scrutiny; these are just a few of the things that go away when experts go away.

People who dedicate their lives to truth should be recognized as such, and those who lie should be recognized as well. Outsourcing your information gathering to "randoms" just means that you will be swayed by whoever can afford the best bot farm.

And if you think you are unswayable, you are the perfect target.

Follow those who express curiosity, welcome questioning, and conduct themselves in good faith. It's an iterative process, you don't have to resolve it in a day.

Agree with the others - in a world where every person can freely share their direct opinion, it is more critical than ever to have individuals whose role it is to research, contextualize, and present the issue in a constructive and clear fashion.

The problem of media capture by various groups is an issue, certainly, but that means it's something we have to be wary of and build boundaries against - because the key role they serve is still in place. Throwing out the entire system because of that issue is like deciding that we no longer need doctors because the for-profit medical system is broken.

In a world where every person is free to share their opinion directly to a mass audience, *we need trusted experts in various fields more than ever.

No, they're not necessarily going to be concentrated only in traditional media, but if I'm looking something up real quick, I'm more likely to trust some random author on a real news site than some random author on social media. Maybe I'd still get wrong information sometimes, but the odds are better.

We need experts that are knowledgeable on issues who can put them in context for lay readers.

In the past, those were often beat reporters, but academics can fit that role too.

With the collapse of traditional media ~~hegemonies~~ companies we've lost beat reporters, so we have to rely on third party experts. Of course, there are problems with that: if they're owned by bad actors, then they can spread misleading narratives.

I'm not sure who fills that role now. Whoever can tweet the most convincingly at journalists? Whoever makes the sexiest YouTube explainer?

😂^(we're screwed)