How important is evaluating an author’s qualifications?

With blogs, the author’s qualifications should be scrutinized more than any other media. With most online articles, the author has some credibility built in (or none at all) based on what company owns the site he is writing for. If the company is well known and credible, it is extending that credibility to its writers. Because anyone can have a blog, it becomes very important to know who the author is when evaluating his material. Admittedly, a blogger’s profile can be just as made up as anything written on his blog, but a little time spent researching on the web should allow the reader to form an opinion about whether the work is credible or not. For example, if a blogger is writing about societal issues in Iraq and claims to be professor of Middle Eastern Studies for an accredited university, then a simple follow up check at the university’s website should vouch for the credibility of that claim. Blogs that I toss out as having no credibility are those with no blogger profile listed or just a name attached to it. Another credibility indication is if mainstream media has links to or quotes a certain blog, you can trust that they’ve done their research in confirming that the blogger is qualified and credible.