The Era of the Armchair Experts

Has anyone at all noticed of late how many experts there are out there.  First the M370 disaster (more on the media side than the actual plane disappearing I am afraid) and now the Korean Ferry Sinking is yet another example that has been attacked by the arm chair expert.
Just what in the hell do I mean by armchair expert?  Well years ago, while growing up, when I was watching the news, and if the newscasters wanted to present an opinion, they often turned to an expert, who actually knew what he was talking about and actually had qualifications that made him an expert.  Now I don't rightly know when we started getting the so-called arm chair experts in the news, but I suspect it was around the time of the first Gulf War, as a means to help keep a positive view on the war.  But by armchair expert, I mean these yahoos that they just put on the news, dressed up to look like, and act like, they know what they are talking about.
The ongoing saga of M370 is a prime example.  I remember seeing headlines reading "Expert declares debris found is from plane wreckage."  Yeah the media has cried wolf so much over this that no one believes it even crashed in the ocean anymore.  And yet they have these experts, and so-far everyone of them has been wrong.  Hell just a few moments ago, an expert declared there are still people alive on the capsized ferry.  I doubt it.  My heart goes out to the families who are suffering from both of these tragedies, and for the injustice of the arm chair experts.
As a kid, tv shows often showed the expert of the house being Dad, and dear old Dad would be sitting in his easy chair, his tobacco pipe in hand, with a pair of reading glasses down on the tip of his nose.  For whatever reason, this made you feel that dear old Dad knew what the hell he was talking about and was wise.
I just hope that the media, although I doubt it, will smarten up about this.  But we as a society are surely laughing at them, and the sad thing is, they either don't know we are or just don't give a shit because an arm chair expert is the best thing in the world to back up any bullshit opinion.  God, if he even exists, better help us on this one.

Dear Old Dad the Expert