Do not misread me: I admire objectivity very much indeed, but I fail to see how it can be achieved if the reader does not understand the writer's particular bias.
-- Joan Didion ("Alicia and the Underground Press")

Importance: Here, Didion introduces the reader early on in the book to her fascination with objectivity and the truth. She states that it is only by revealing the writer's biases that a publication can hope to achieve objectivity and inspire trust in its readers. Didion notes that underground newspapers tend to be forthright about their writers' stances and backgrounds, thus allowing the reader to form their own informed opinions on the truthfulness of the paper's content, whereas mainstream newspapers tend to obfuscate writer bias in the interest of setting out a particular image or narrative.

I got out fast then, before anyone could say the word 'serenity' again, for it is a word I associate with death, and for several days...
-- Joan Didion ("Getting Serenity")