Credentials

Always important and for journalists under fire from inept critics on the right more pertinent than ever.

"But if a reporter who also has a Ph.D. in environmental science is writing about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, it seems like something a reader ought to know. Certification would never, of course, be a prerequisite for practicing in a field, just as an accountant need not be a CPA to advise you on your income tax. But it is information worth having when you decide whom to listen to.

Journalists are realizing this, and journalism schools are responding to the market demand by offering midcareer certification programs in some substantive specialties, such as business reporting."

Philip Meyer of the UNC School of Journalism.