I’d particularly note one of your last sentences, about disclosure in print magazines. I’d say the disclosure bar is a lot higher online, frankly. The print world has way too much “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” for my taste, mostly because “that’s the way it’s done.” Sorry, it’s a new world.

Thanks very much for your thoughts!

I’ve personally won multiple writing awards from great stories that came out of press trips where someone else was paying the tab, with warts showing and all. I’ve never understood why I would be more honest when a magazine is paying expenses (or I’m paying them myself even) than when someone else is picking up the tab. What would I be worried about—that a PR person might send me a rude e-mail afterwards? That’s supposed to make writers cower and be dishonest? Seems like a big stretch. And don’t even get me started on writers who cover autos, golf, music concerts, restaurants, yada yada. None of them get paid enough to do it all on their own dime, so its freebietown for them to, with no disclosure in any print mag I’ve ever seen. The readers couldn’t care less—it’s just us media people having this discussion.
Tim L.´s last [post] ..The Real Europe: Crowds, Tourists, and Money

So, while in that particular case the comps weren’t disclosed, I chose to use my own journalistic integrity and NOT include a destination, only to have that integrity shot down by the higher ups. Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth, I suppose.