Is that a spade or a short handled digging instrument?

I don't normally wade in to the murky waters that are online debates about mummy bloggers for a few reasons:

• Getting my opinion across in 140 characters or a small comment box is bloody hard
• I loathe conversations that go in circles
• I'm happy to disagree with people and have them do their thing while I do mine
• I don't really give enough of a shit to waste valuable time on it

But can someone, for the love of Google, please tell me how an opinion writer who has a column in a newspaper and writes about a comped weekend experience; a tech website owner who is paid to write about the features of the brand new iPhone she just got given; and a TV show reviewing games they have been sent, are any different to each other? Are any different to me? REALLY. Because I just don't get it.
 
They were paid for their time, their skill and their ability to draw readers/viewers with their opinions. How is that different, really, to what Bloggers who choose to walk the monetisation path do?

They all received product with the expectation it would be reviewed. They all received payment or compensation in one form or another. No one is jumping up and down saying they have been bought, that they've sold out, are immoral and unethical or that they are being untruthful in their review. You can call it sponsorship, a small fee from the parent company, an admin fee, hell, you can even call it Shazza's Shoe Fund. I'm gonna call it a fucking a spade. Money is changing hands for opinion, be it positive or negative, no matter what the platform.

You can argue to the cows come home that old media is governed by laws, and that I am not. The fact that I am abiding by those laws, because I feel it is the right thing to do, is seemingly dismissed because I'm new  media and my platform is mine alone and therefore anything I write must be intrinsically biased, unbalanced and easily bought. My words here are not influenced by whether or not my palm was lined with cash or a box of fucking washing powder came my way, and it even says so on my media kit so that companies who wish to engage with me know straight up that I can't be bought.

I get that there are some unethical bloggers out there willing to say anything for a buck, but they are in the minority here. Painting all mummy bloggers who monetise with the one "cash-for-comment" brush, and singling us out as the only writing niche who have some bad eggs amongst us is a narrow viewpoint indeed.