Phil Bronstein says it’s time to throw out the notion that journalists should be objective.

Bambi Francisco, formerly a MarketWatch columnist who now heads Vator.tv, interviewed several figures in journalism about objectivity during a conference at Stanford two weeks ago and posted this video.

William Randolph Hearst III, for instance, said objective journalism still exists, and emphasized that there’s a distinction between facts and opinion. Andy Heyward, former head of CBS News, said he would hate to see a world where everything is an op-ed page and nobody is trying to do old-fashioned, objective reporting. Bronstein, who stepped down in January as editor of the Chronicle to become the editor-at-large for Hearst, told Francisco that objectivity is a concoction that has developed over the past few decades:

“People have opinions, they have perspective and one of the things that creates expertise is your perspective … “I think journalists shy away from speaking with authority and that they ought to speak with it. … I think the whole notion of objectivity should be thrown out.”

(Photo credits: Vator.tv screen grabs)