I don’t disagree, but I’m also glad I came across this and it was all out in the open.

I wouldn’t have believed it was this bad without seeing it myself.

This allows me to just dismiss most of it and distrust by default (I can also just ignore some writers entirely - Lorenz in this case, Kara Swisher earlier).

There are obviously still great reporters (Steven Levy, Li Yuan for some examples), but there are a lot of terrible ones that misuse their power.

In general I think people are better off not talking to the press and just writing for themselves on their own platform.

The VCs come across as extremely thin skinned people who think no one has a right to criticize them and any complaints about their companies are unfair slander. Those arguments are basically the clear justification why journalism is important and exists. There might be some 'unfair and mean' journalists, but writing about the problems of google or whatever is important. Those people complaining are the embodiment of rich people who can't take any criticism without going out and hiring lawyers to try to squelch it.

This is ironic, because it's exactly the journalists who are doing what you accuse the VCs of doing. The second they get any criticism whatsoever -- whether it's on Twitter or on Clubhouse -- they immediately play the victim and write pieces like this one that question the nerve of anyone who dares to criticize the media industry. As if they're above it all. Journalism is a for-profit industry just like any other, so why shouldn't they be open to criticism, too?

According to VICE, the "audio chat had spiraled wildly out of control" because what, it was critical of journalists?

Also, notice that none of the tech people in any of these conversations said that tech should be above criticism. They've literally simply said that the media should be accountable, too. Do you disagree?

For decades the media has NOT been accountable. They were the only organizations able to reach the masses directly. Now other people can to, and those people can criticize media coverage without having to go through the media itself, and so you get whiny pieces like this one that hypocritically try to argue that others should be open to criticism but they're assholes for criticizing the media.