Dale Bass: What is Canada’s definition of a journalist?
Although it can seem like it, not everybody is against the idea of creating a professional title for journalists.
Although it can seem like it, not everybody is against the idea of creating a professional title for journalists.
Kamloops This Week reporter and Canadian Association of Journalists chair Dale Bass has been in favour of professionalization for a long time, and she has written a thought-provoking column in her paper explaining why. While Bass doesn't believe the government should be the ones to regulate it — as was recently proposed in Quebec — she does think journalists should be doing it themselves.
She writes:
[node:ad]One of the main reasons I’m in favour of it, though, is because I see it as a sure way we can do something we’re really lousy at — explaining to our consumers what we do, how we do it and, most importantly, why we do it. There’s a reason many people don’t trust my profession — we don’t tell them why they should. We simply call people up, ask them questions and expect them to provide the answers. We pass judgment on people without explaining why we should have that right.
Check out Kamloops This Week for the rest of the article. Then tell us what you think: Should journalists band together and create their own definition of what, exactly, a journalist is?
