I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, and I haven’t exactly gotten in the habit of posting more often, either. After the Nashville conference, I’ve thought a bit more about this whole objectivity thing, and spoken about it with various folk.

The main alternative proposed in favor of dumping what is really a biased view of the “traditional” idea of objectivity is to say, “let’s just make our biases known.” Just come out and say, “hey, this is my viewpoint, this is my ideology, and this is how I’m going to report the story.” This brings out a couple of further problems:

• First, it becomes even more okay to embellish a few details for the sake of the ideology. A strict Pomo mindset would say, “I was honest about where I’m coming from, so my readers are aware of my biases. Therefore, it’s okay for me to insert my ideology into my reporting.” It’s like saying, “Hey, I’m going to enhance my credibility by disclosing the fact that I’m going to mislead my audience. I’m going to be honest by saying that I’m not going to be honest.”
• Second, the opinion creeps in a bit too much to become the story.

What’s missing from the “traditional” view of objectivity that Pomo journalism does not adequately make up for is a revelation of methods. Part of the new Pomo order comes about because technology allows for it: I can publish my own blog to become a part of the blogging/commentary/news/whatever world. There is now a lot more space available than there was when information was primarily carried through paper-based and broadcast (or time-based) media. Some of that space could be dedicated to revealing more details about how particular conclusions are reached. Where there is a news analysis, utilize the website to reveal the methodology used to conclude that some could pay more as a result of the new Medicare drug plan. Traditional news organizations could probably be more well-equipped to reveal these sorts of things than bloggers, but this may help establish more credibility. NPR already does this. FOX News does not, probably because if they revealed their methodology (which is described quite well in “Outfoxed“), they would lose what little credibility they have.

So, anyway. What I think I’m going to do with my site at this point is go through a little bit of a redesign. Take some things away, add a few new things. That sort of thing.