Last week a vendor who is relevant to my readers in quite a large way, DJI, was pinged by ABC media watchdog program, Media Watch, for offering an influencer (not a journalist) money in return for a favourable review of a product.
Last night, the shoe was on the other foot where a journo – and this time they are a journo – was pinged for taking money / goodies in order to give a favourable review. In fact, Media Watch found at latest 18 such incidences from the journo.
Now I don’t know the person involved and have never met them, or even been in the same room, or possibly even the same State as the aforementioned person. And what they do is strictly their business.
And whether you agree with it or not is of course yours.
What I will say though, is that when this sort of thing happens, the trust you place in us as product reviewers is hurled out of the window.
There is a major difference between being sponsor/advertiser loyal and sponsor/advertiser compliant. I will recommend my sponsors to anyone who asks about a recommendation for a product where it is valid. But if I find fault with a product I am reviewing, I will certainly, and have done many times, say so.