Jonathan Knott
Follow the money is exactly the phrase I was thinking of Matthew - it isn't about the personal ethics of writers/bloggers/editors, it's about the whole system being influenced by industry money. In that situation there's only so much writers can do to push back. For instance, recently Brand USA/Discover America did a big marketing push, which coincided with a lot of USA coverage. It's not about corruption, but money/coverage do coincide in more subtle ways.
Thanks for sharing this piece Matthew - glad it's getting a positive response. Good point offbeattravel - I think Outbounding, VoiceMap and Compass Cultura could all help with the issues you raise but of course projects like this need to build up a following/profile themselves in order to do that. Elaine, yes I think the internet makes it easier to use/combine different kinds of media and that's why it makes more sense to talk about travel 'content' rather than 'writing', etc.