TechCrunch has always straddled a line between journal of the tech industry and gossip rag about people and companies in the tech industry. In recent years it's steered increasingly toward the latter direction -- essentially becoming Gawker: Valley Edition. No doubt this is because gossipy stories got more pageviews and more comments, and so TechCrunch focused its content accordingly.

It's unfortunate that such a direction gets more attention and more views. But such is life. If you're giving away the content and charging advertisers, then to some degree you're a slave to the almighty pageview metrics. This doesn't have to mean serving up trash to the lowest common denominator, but that's the easiest and most immediately profitable strategy. (Other strategies might include going upscale / higher quality / niche, and then charging advertisers a premium based on the demographic breakdown of the readership).