The problem with Arrington's whining is the lack of reciprocity. They scream bloody murder when their reporting is 'attacked' by PR, but what about the multiple instances prior to this when their reporting really was inaccurate? Can you think of a single post where they said 'we were wrong'?
If facebook doesn't release a phone in, say, 3 years, will TC admit they were full of shit? Hell no. They'll simply say facebook did have it as a real project but decided to kill it.
How can anyone take them as the 'blog of record' for startups if they don't take responsibility for their inaccurate reporting at least once in a while?
Whether or not TechCrunch is reasonable about pointing out when they're wrong doesn't seem relevant. Facebook "attacking" their post has nothing to do with what TechCrunch might do if it turns out the post was wrong.
Facebook knows if the post was wrong, they're not "attacking" anything to make a point in case it turns out to be wrong.
If facebook doesn't release a phone in, say, 3 years, will TC admit they were full of shit? Hell no. They'll simply say facebook did have it as a real project but decided to kill it.
How can anyone take them as the 'blog of record' for startups if they don't take responsibility for their inaccurate reporting at least once in a while?