Yep, it's an actual thing. Interviews, events, and travel to those events are all a form of consideration given to as a reward to favored reviewers. They're all

Yep, it's an actual thing. Interviews, events, and travel to those events are all a form of consideration given to as a reward to favored reviewers. They're all given to reviewers specifically to give them an advantage over reviewers who are actually honest. If you want your own advantages, you'll have to create them yourself. I recommend looking at the business model of Consumer Reports; they're successful and have a good reputation for honesty. They sell subscriptions rather than advertising, so that they aren't beholden to advertisers either.