4 ms·

I posted the following comment on the techcruch blog but it got deleted. Not sure why exactly, I think it's a fairly valid question to ask. "So you apparently

I posted the following comment on the techcruch blog but it got deleted. Not sure why exactly, I think it's a fairly valid question to ask. "So you apparently found out that your business partner was pretty shady last summer but you chose to not reveal that obviously newsworthy information to readers, why exactly? Just wondering why readers should be considering techcruch a newsworthy source if such an obvious conflict of interests results in you coming down on the side that benefits you the most?"

tghw 17y ago
Seems pretty obvious. He had a partnership with Fusion Garage, why would he air their dirty laundry? It's not like he did anything to hide the relationship between FG and TC.
- pmjordan 17y ago
  He had a partnership with Fusion Garage Doesn't sound like he did, actually.
  - tghw 17y ago
    Contractually, perhaps not, but both sides stated multiple times that they were working together, which would be enough for him to not want to slander his partner.
- forensic 17y ago
  He's supposed to be a journalist. It's a massive conflict of interest and in traditional media would be a breach of professional ethics.
  - tghw 17y ago
    In this case, he is clearly an entrepreneur writing about his venture. To think that his writing is anything approaching journalism is simply naive.
    - boucher 17y ago
      This may be true, but Arrington does push himself as a journalist, not as someone writing about his own venture. He's gone so far as to say that he is ushering in the next era of journalism...
      - scott_s 17y ago
        When journalists go on a talk show to promote their new book, we don't expect them to also list the reasons we should not buy it.
        pavs 17y ago
        eh? This is not the same. If the journalist wrote about his book in his own column would be the same. Arrington didnt go to gigaom to talk about crunchpad, He is using his own platform to talk about his own project, for the last year or so. Most of the time good things about it.
        scott_s 17y ago
        It's also clearly him talking about his own project. I think it's reasonable to expect him to talk about it positively, or at least in ways that won't harm himself. If he tried to pretend it was not his own project, then that would be wrong.
        pavs 17y ago
        I am not disagreeing with that. I am disagreeing with the analogy that a journalist going to a talk show to talk about his book being the same as Arrington using TC to talk about his product.
        scott_s 17y ago
        Fine, then just pretend I said a journalist who used his own column to highlight points in his book.

tghw 17y ago

Seems pretty obvious. He had a partnership with Fusion Garage, why would he air their dirty laundry? It's not like he did anything to hide the relationship between FG and TC.

pmjordan 17y ago
He had a partnership with Fusion Garage Doesn't sound like he did, actually.
- tghw 17y ago
  Contractually, perhaps not, but both sides stated multiple times that they were working together, which would be enough for him to not want to slander his partner.
forensic 17y ago
He's supposed to be a journalist. It's a massive conflict of interest and in traditional media would be a breach of professional ethics.
- tghw 17y ago
  In this case, he is clearly an entrepreneur writing about his venture. To think that his writing is anything approaching journalism is simply naive.
  - boucher 17y ago
    This may be true, but Arrington does push himself as a journalist, not as someone writing about his own venture. He's gone so far as to say that he is ushering in the next era of journalism...
    - scott_s 17y ago
      When journalists go on a talk show to promote their new book, we don't expect them to also list the reasons we should not buy it.
      - pavs 17y ago
        eh? This is not the same. If the journalist wrote about his book in his own column would be the same. Arrington didnt go to gigaom to talk about crunchpad, He is using his own platform to talk about his own project, for the last year or so. Most of the time good things about it.
        scott_s 17y ago
        It's also clearly him talking about his own project. I think it's reasonable to expect him to talk about it positively, or at least in ways that won't harm himself. If he tried to pretend it was not his own project, then that would be wrong.
        pavs 17y ago
        I am not disagreeing with that. I am disagreeing with the analogy that a journalist going to a talk show to talk about his book being the same as Arrington using TC to talk about his product.
        scott_s 17y ago
        Fine, then just pretend I said a journalist who used his own column to highlight points in his book.