3) They never seem to make a distinction between gossip and stories about people.
I think they kind of did, but they didn't force it on us. If that makes sense. I do agree on point 4 though, but I guess they just needed to go along with that to make the episode work (they could have made it so they older ponies don't realize it's a school paper, or something) and probably 2 as well.
Like I say, I did enjoy this episode, but mostly for the humor and the references Not the best CMC episode, but not the worst in my mind either.