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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.
        pavs 17y ago
        A journalist would never use his own column to highlight points in his book. At least not someone whom you would refer to as an ethical journalist. Point being, Arrington is not a journalist in any stretch of imagination.
        scott_s 17y ago
        Articles which are abridged chapters from books appear in newspapers and magazines all the time. They are clearly attributed, and the understanding is that if you find the subject interesting, you can find more of it in the book.

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.
        pavs 17y ago
        A journalist would never use his own column to highlight points in his book. At least not someone whom you would refer to as an ethical journalist. Point being, Arrington is not a journalist in any stretch of imagination.
        scott_s 17y ago
        Articles which are abridged chapters from books appear in newspapers and magazines all the time. They are clearly attributed, and the understanding is that if you find the subject interesting, you can find more of it in the book.