I agree, for such a good film. It had such a let down ending and almost a negative example. The reason for this I think is cause they tried to make it an anti-hero positive film and tried to use Lou more of a story arch bridge to what the news really is than an actual character. I actually think this was a mistake because for me the Movie was actually Lou more than anything but the writer/director/husband tried hard to avoid being rehash and tried to break ground by creating originality but it feels he lost the best of the story in the process.
Without strife, your victory has no meaning.
Without strife, you do not advance.
Without strife, there is only stagnation.

Jake is a scary motherfucker in it!

This movie was so different and kind of mesmerizing. It really brought home to me how absolutely amoral and disgusting the media can be. Literally ANYTHING for a story.

𝐸𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝑅𝑒𝓃𝑒—𝒫𝓇𝒾𝒸𝑒

Nightcrawler is essentially a modern day homage to taxi driver. There’s definitely elements of black comedy and the coerced romance with the news boss lady is just to show you how nihilistic the business is.
She was willing to trade sex for more content because if it bleeds it always leads. I thought the tone and satire were pretty consistent.
"You had me at Elk Tartare"
-Erin Wotherspoon

I can see how it could be categorized that way. I watched the film expecting a thriller so the comedic elements threw me for a loop a bit.

The whole film is basically a dark comedy-thriller. Or satire.
I thought it was pretty consistent in what it was trying to say.

I understand what you're saying but even if that's what they wanted to convey, there is some dry humor involved. Clearly they are making a statement that often jobs ask you to do things beyond your pay grade. And as interns they are getting paid nothing yet potentially risking death. So there is humor and irony in that sentiment as well.
The theme music playing through that scene also has a lighthearted sound to it which I felt further adds to the comedic element. I just felt that the tone of the film wasn't fully even throughout. I think if those scenes I described above were performed with less underlying humor it would have made the film darker and more consistent.

Also the very last scene seems somewhat comical when he is talking to the interns and says he won't ask them to do anything that he himself wouldn't do. Which is ironic since he had asked Rick to film the guy at the car crash, rather than do it himself, which resulted in Rick being shot to death.
I felt it made the tone of the movie seem somewhat uneven.
I don't know, it kind of reminds me of how someone in their early years of life, might have to work a ****ty job and do a lot of work that he wouldn't necessarily want to do if he could just get others to do it. But later in life, might have worked up the ranks and gets to tell employees to do the dirty work. It's just how the working world goes. Either you're a leader or you're a follower. Most leaders have a start as followers. Before Lou hired Rick, he was doing all the dirty work. So I guess that, at least to him, justifies saying something like "I wouldn't ask you to do anything I wouldn't do". Because he has done it. Lou's basically just one of those ****ty managers that a lot of employees complain about.