If you read travel blogs, then you should be part of the great debate that has raged between writers and editors since wandering scribes first put pen to papyrus: can you trust travel writers who take freebies?

I have been writing travel articles since 1994. I didn’t set out to be a “travel writer”–I was a working journalist who enjoyed traveling and discovered I could offset my expenses by selling stories to magazines and newspapers.

In the beginning, I was completely naive about how the game was played. I didn’t understand there was a whole symbiotic relationship between the public relations world and the travel media world. I saw the light early on when I called a provincial tourism media contact to ask for suggestions about traveling in their part of Canada–and was immediately offered airfare, accommodation and a rental car, gratis.

I have taken freebies all through my travel-writing career, and I still do–you can read more about my policy on that here. I have never written favorable things about a disagreeable destination or product in return for sponsorship (although I could point you to travel writers who do).

I also know that I have been bullied, harrassed and otherwise made to feel uncomfortable by certain public relations folks who were expecting a certain type of coverage in return for sponsorship. But I have always made it clear that I don’t write brochure copy–unless I am, in fact, writing brochure copy.

And now the question of travel freebies is surfacing in the blogosphere, witness this recent post in the Budget Travel blog. It’s a good post, and a worthy discussion, but I chafed a little at this earnest assurance at the top of the post:

You can always trust us—because we never take freebies or accept any travel discounts.

Three things I want to say about that:

1. I cannot tell you many how many times I’ve crossed paths with an industry-sponsored writer working on a piece for one of the so-called “pure” publications that allegedly doesn’t accept freebies. I have also had many conversations with PR people who were thrilled to tell me about the subsidized trip they were “putting together” for a writer from this blue-chip newspaper or that top-drawer TV station–all claiming to be freebie-free. As far as I can tell, the big media players live in a a don’t-ask-don’t-tell world. Who’s really not telling the truth?
2. I know many skilled and honorable travel writers who do take freebies, don’t hide the fact–and write some of the most compelling and/or useful travel pieces you’d ever care to read.
3. The blogosphere can spot artifice at 50 paces and does not tolerate posers for long. If you’re reading a blog that reeks of unrelenting PR, it won’t take long before you stop coming back, stop leaving comments–and most importantly, stop acting on that blog’s travel recommendations.

Thus endeth the rant.

Over to you: can you trust a blogger who takes freebies? Do you trust me?