What was Chloe thinking?

[Melisande]

What business did she have taking a tip where someone's life was at stake and actually running with it because it might further her career (and that was her explicitly stated motivation, she didn't say she had tried to get the attention of other reporters or the police and that they had ignored her, she said she kept it for herself because she needed to find a story worthy of a byline if she ever wanted to move up)? She should have handed it off to someone who had more experience and prudence than her. A more experienced reporter may have realized that the job was for the police rather than the Daily Planet. And might have saved the girl's life. It wasn't Chloe's place to decide that that lead was meant for her. Her job was to answer the phones and relay the tips to real reporters, not keep the tips to herself and follow up on them in search of the story that will get her ahead. And in real life it would have gotten her reprimanded and fired, rather than getting her her own byline. What she did was reckless and inexcusable, she put the life of the person who called her at unnecessary risk (and it got her killed), and callously shoved Lois into an even more dangerous situation where she knew murder was involved.

By getting her own byline at the end, they rewarded her for doing something that was at best, completely irresponsible, and at worst, morally reprehensible.