is a substantial difference between the two concepts, with the “censor” usually an element of external monitoring whose interest lies in hiding truths, while the “quality expert” is an internal view in which the media organisation monitors itself to maintain professionalism and credibility. “Censorship” is a control tool, while “quality control” is a developmen- tal tool. The “censor” works according to the edicts issued from above, while the “quality expert” works in an interactive, internal system that springs from the profession’s very conscience. One of the main problems of the newspaper critic for some Amer- ican newspapers lies in the role of the critic inside the organisation, and their relationship with editors. This includes fixing the ambiguous impression that mixes between positive and negative monitoring, and clarifies that the newspaper critic’s presence does not represent a type of authoritarianism or a mechanism to weaken editorial decisions. Da- vid Browder, former Editor-in-Chief at the Washington Post , explores his organisation’s experience with the newspaper critic, “When a critic was employed at the newspaper, some thought that this was due to mis- trust of editors and their delegates. However, the experiment was fruit- ful, for all of us became more careful about separating the news from our opinions and ascribing every word to a clear source, and we even re-evaluated our pre-conceived notions of this plan” (1) . Al Jazeera faced a similar challenge when implementing the idea of a media critic: that of journalists’ sensitivity towards critiques and eval- uation, even if they were under the “quality” umbrella. This challenge played a large role in choosing the method followed by the network’s Quality Control unit for writing reports and research. Descriptive lan- guage was used to present violations in most cases so long as it was clear and meaningful—for example, if the broadcast was interrupted, or there was a mistake in language or voice. In addition, the quality control reporting method listed the standard that was violated. Because most of those preparing quality control reports are jour- nalists, they understand the difficulty of field and editorial work in newsrooms, so their work comes from a place of awareness and a good
wish al-Hilwaji (Damascus: Dar Kan’aan, 2004), p. 45. (1) Hussam al-Deen. Edward Deming’s Life, Ibid., p. 76-77.
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