Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be honest, I kind of like the tone of Techcrunch. The fact that many of the writers on Techcrunch have their own voice makes Techcrunch more fun to read than other tech blogs. If you're looking to build a competing startup news blog, I think creating a unique voice for yourself is a good way to build your brand.
Another option would be to have two versions of each article. First, the "your own voice" article, and then the "journalistic style" article which gets to the point quickly, doesn't inject opinion into the news, etc...
Maybe even allow the 'readability' version to be edited wiki style...