Thanks for clarifying. There is no question that the scamville series was great journalism and a tribute to what they can do when they put their minds to it. Of

Thanks for clarifying. There is no question that the scamville series was great journalism and a tribute to what they can do when they put their minds to it. Of course, I didn't know about another outlet passing on the story due to advertiser conflict but that certainly doesn't surprise me. By the same token, I wouldn't be surprised in the least to hear examples of Mike doing similar things, though it's probably more likely to be a relationship conflict. One of the great hallmarks of classic journalism was always the firewall between advertising and editorial. It's always seemed that professional blogging has almost prided itself (in a mostly unsaid way) with the breakdown of that wall - or perhaps they were all just too small to care. Even news behemoths seem to be rather captured by the enemy these days, or at least have lost a lot of the fervor that defended the split 30-40 years ago. I feel conflicted about TC's voice, and I doubt I'm the only one. This isn't a new feeling, I've never been a huge fan - but it does seem to be worse now after the AOL acquisition. That doesn't mean I'm willing to not read it entirely as they clearly develop some good stories (be they third party or not). A lot of the rest gives me real pause before I click on a story of theirs in an aggregator. Between the almost zero content posts, the blind brand boosterism, obvious collusion in some startup coverage, hit jobs on the competition and petty stories about what bad thing some AT&T call center rep tweeted - it's a real minefield. It's too bad that the startup and tech world doesn't think itself worthy of a quality paper like the finance industry does. While clearly there is more money in new york, there is certainly enough flowing in silicon valley to support some real subscription journalism. Perhaps the problem is that it's off message - you can't support quality subscription journalism in your corner while attacking it everywhere else. Maybe some day someone with a big exit who loves news will take on the challenge and give a shot at becoming the Murdoch of the west coast, willing to subsidize quality if that's what it takes. Heck, maybe even Arrington could do that - they seem to share a particular brand of crazy - it's just that Murdoch mostly keeps his in other people's publications. Such a thing probably wouldn't start off with a bang, but with a whimper. It might even be as unremarkable as a popular tech blog slowly and quietly raising their own internal standards over time.