Excerpt from James Taranto, "Best of the Web, WSJ, July 1, 2016.
To be sure, expertise has its value. By definition an expert has superior knowledge in his particular field. But an expert opinion is still an opinion, and experts are no less prone than laymen to prejudice, motivated reasoning, groupthink and other forms of cognitive bias....
A better ethos for journalists can be found in that 1960s bumper sticker, “Question authority”—a sentiment that reflects the thinking of Socrates and Benjamin Franklin. Don’t accept expert opinion as infallible or merely “factual”; see if it withstands the test of a deeper inquiry. And let experts who dissent from the consensus have their say, too—
http://www.wsj.com/articles/amanpour-appeals-to-authority-1467392975
To be sure, expertise has its value. By definition an expert has superior knowledge in his particular field. But an expert opinion is still an opinion, and experts are no less prone than laymen to prejudice, motivated reasoning, groupthink and other forms of cognitive bias....
A better ethos for journalists can be found in that 1960s bumper sticker, “Question authority”—a sentiment that reflects the thinking of Socrates and Benjamin Franklin. Don’t accept expert opinion as infallible or merely “factual”; see if it withstands the test of a deeper inquiry. And let experts who dissent from the consensus have their say, too—
http://www.wsj.com/articles/amanpour-appeals-to-authority-1467392975