I always find claims of “objective reporting” interesting, if not downright humorous. For one thing, absolute objectivity is impossible; we each bring to the table our own general biases, experiences and cultural/religious/political ideologies, not to mention our own viewpoints and perceptions about a given topic or issue on which we’re called to report.

For another, those news outlets that claim to be the most objective are often just the opposite. It’s as if they think mantras of fair reporting or balanced news coverage can offset day-to-day reality.

And besides, who said there was anything wrong with a little … (gasp) … subjectivity?

Journalistic blasphemy? Hardly. Promoting or least admitting some degree of subjectivity not only addresses realty, but it also fosters analysis—an element that is conspicuously absent from many legacy publishers.

Granted, nearly every mass news magazine has substituted breaking news coverage—something of an oxymoron in the dreadfully slow, weekly production schedules of print publications—with news analysis. But even more news outlets still stick to the same tired he-said/she-said reporting formula.

“Get both sides of the story,” we’re told. “Report the facts and let the readers decide.” But in an era when a reader has access to more raw information than a library has books, simply letting them decide might not be good enough. Instead, why not help them decide?

“Woah, woah, woah,” some of you might be saying. “Surely journalism isn’t meant to push our own opinions on the unsuspecting reader!”

Of course not. Thorough analysis doesn’t have to fall under the header of “op-ed.” It simply should put facts in context; it should lay out the players, themes and situations, and organize them in a way in which the audience is better capable of making an informed decision.

And not only might subjectivity better serve our readers, it might better serve us too. In the new information age, those sites that can best analyze information are likely the ones that have the best chance to survive. Look no further than The Week (an example I cited in my last blog). Though the magazine is first-and-foremost a news aggregator, it does provide great analysis when piecing together the most pertinent bits of information from the past week. Readers have responded, and the magazine has seen impressive gains where other news weeklies have witnessed considerable setbacks.