Why is he comparing himself to the New York Times? TechCrunch is a gossip column, having more current gossip than the NYT doesn't make them the future of journalism.
I'd hardly call it a gossip column considering they break most major tech stories these days. The NYTimes used to be in that role, but now it's TechCrunch. Valid comparison.
The tl;dr version is that this piece is a response to a piece from the Times, which discusses TechCrunch.