Los Angeles Times media columnist James Rainey says public criticism of journalist Amy Wallace reflects an increasing rejection of professional authority and journalistic expertise. Wallace wrote a recent piece in Wired Magazine debunking the idea that vaccines cause autism, sparking angry rebuttals by activists.

An excerpt:

Wallace has run smack into an abiding, perhaps growing, phenomenon of the Internet Age: Citizens armed with information are sure they know better. Readers who brush up against expertise believe they have become experts. The common man rebels against the notion that anyone — not professionals, not the government and certainly not the media — speaks with special authority.

Wallace, who spent more than three months interviewing dozens of people for a 7,000-word piece and cites epidemiological studies to support her assertions, faced accusations that she was naive, ignorant, un-American or a shill for the pharmaceutical companies.

… “It’s great that people can find out more than they ever could before,” Wallace said. “But it seems it will make trusting in experts even more important. More than ever now, we need help sifting through the torrent.”

See also:

“Readers Respond to ‘An Epidemic of Fear”—Wired

A Short History of Vaccine Panic—Wired

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