“So much for Objective Journalism. Don’t bother to look for it here–not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.”

- Hunter S. Thompson,“Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72″

Same story, two markedly different takes:

Pensions & Investments: Hedge fund closings surpass debuts for 2nd straight year.

MarketWatch: Liquidations fall, while hedge fund launches rise

Same data, same source, very different takes. I had a journalism professor who maintained there was no objectivity in journalism. As soon as a reporter picks a quote to use or cites one statistic instead of another, subjectivity is introduced. In this case, it’s not even that cut-and-dried. Both stories cite the same statistics, it’s just that one emphasizes the change year-over-year while the other focuses on single-year numbers. Both are equally true and equally accurate.

Shades of gray in a black-and-white world.

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