Arrington Suggests TechCrunch Reviews Affected by Advertising

In a post discussing whether or not to accept advertising from Izea, Michael Arrington makes the following comment:

…it should go without saying that even if we accept their advertising, it isn’t going to affect our editorial coverage of the company. In fact, I may go more negative just to prove we’re neutral, if that makes sense.

Um, no, it doesn’t make sense. Either their advertising status affects your writing, or it doesn’t. You can’t pick and choose when you want to play favorites. Well… you can, but you’ve lost your credibility as having any sort of objectivity.