Michael Arrington defends himself against the charge that his Techcrunch news site demands exclusives as the price of covering a story. And I'm not sure why. Powerful titles such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have long made those arrangements with sources. There's no explicit newspaper policy, but individual reporters will reward those companies which give them an early peek, or a jump on the competition; and they get the message. Writes the Techcrunch founder: "Our policy is clear: we want to write about stuff on the same deadlines as everyone else." Oh, please. Techcrunch is the most powerful media platform for a startup launch; of course Arrington is competitive; and of course he has leverage over his sources. He should bully them all he pleases.