Busiek's DCU!Chloe & Backhanded Chlois Endorcement

Smallville, Season Seven: ChloeKurt Busiek has developed a pitch to bring a 'new' version of Chloe Sullivan to the DCU.  While the character would still be an aspiring journalist and a college student, the plan is to bring her in that way in contrast to Clark's current age in his 30's.  Additionally she would not know his secret or have 'made it' yet in her career because those things would step on Lois toes:

“‘Our’ Chloe is clearly inspired by the Smallville character, right down to wanting to be a journalist, and being roughly the same age as the Smallville character. And she’s still Lois’ cousin. Beyond that, though, since she’s obviously a different age than Clark and Lana, she’s got to be her own, unique character.”

As Busiek explains, the differences are needed to prevent duplication.

“The problem we'd have faced if we brought her in with the same background as the TV show is that she'd fill two basic roles -- the Girl from Back Home and the Reporter -- and those roles are both pretty solidly filled in the adult Superman cast, by Lana and Lois. So she's got to have a different spin, one that lets her occupy a different role from either of them. She's the younger sister of someone Clark went to school with, not a classmate of Clark's herself. As a result, she's the new intern at the Daily Planet, fresh out of journalism school and itching to make a name for herself. That'll make her clearly different from Lois and Lana, and at the same time more familiar to watchers of the show.”

Idelson, while still playing upcoming stories close to the vest did confirm a few more key differences between television Chloe and comic book Chloe – she won’t have superpowers, and she doesn’t know Clark’s secret (“No way. No one in Lois’ family - save Lois herself - knows the secret.”).

Emphasis ours; due to the inherent nature of Smallville where Clark meets everyone 'back home' to begin with the comparison to Lana really holds no water.  However, when talking about key plot and character traights such as Chloe being Clark's Confidante and being the Reporter... well according to DC, Chloe Sullivan is just too much like Lois Lane to co-exist at the same time in DCU hence the repurposing of her character.