Fast Company will redesign Robert Scoble’s blog and begin selling ads on his behalf as part of his move to Fast Company. Scoble has long said that he doesn’t have ads on his blog because he doesn’t trust someone who is just in it for the money. But does having ads on one’s site really mean that they are just in it for the money? Does a blogger accepting money for advertising automatically create bias?

Let’s face the facts: running a blog or any kind of web site costs money. The amount of money depends directly on the amount of traffic the site receives. At some point most publishers need to look at recovering that cost. I wouldn’t trust someone who is just in it for the money, but people do need to make a living.

Bias is only created if the writer allows it to be. If a writer’s sponsor is the subject of a piece and that relationship is not disclosed, then the writer opens themselves to accusations of bias. As long as the relationship is disclosed and the writing is not censored in an attempt to please (or not upset) the sponsors then I see no problem. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be associated with a sponsor that I would not be proud to write the full truth about. A blogger should at no point allow the business side of a blog to compromise the integrity of its reporting.

So has Scoble sold out? We’ll have to wait and see what impact the advertisers have on his writing to answer that question. Until then we should all hold judgement.

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