Claiming to be unbiased is a patronising fairytale, so let’s just own up to our agendas

In this guest posting from Sydney’s media 140 conference Cathie McGinn argues there’s no such thing as total objectivity, so better to disclose your agenda.

Thankfully, at least some of the debate at this week’s Media 140 moved on from fixating upon the rather tired blogger vs. journalist issue.  

It’s a positive sign that the conversation regarding online content is not entirely bogged down with the rather meaningless question of whether or not bloggers and other ‘non-journalistic’ content creators are entitled to express their opinions with authority or whether their content is valid or reliable.

What is clearly becoming much more of an issue is the subject of authenticity, rather than objectivity – there’s a shift towards an inherent admission of bias and agenda on the part of any content creator.