JD Lasica's article The cost of ethics: Influence peddling in the blogosphere is now online. He has commentary on his personal site.

Ultimately, I think the real problem is, that the blogging vs. journalism thing has blown so far out of proportion, that it's forgotten that bloggers are real people, with real desires to a) get free shit, b) get paid, and c) don't give a fuck what people think.

We don't live in a black and white world... it's grey. But if you want to keep perpetuating 'with us or against us', whatever stirs your yogurt.

Just remember, that this kind of thing is done ALL THE TIME, without the need for pay, and without the need for organized Bzz. It's favoritism, nepotism, relationship building, adversarial competition, and the like.

None of this is new. I doubt the world ends, and I doubt the world cares.