I don't think they are saying that a blog is not news, I think the issue is that (in their opinion) a consumer can reasonably expect that a newspaper or magazin

I don't think they are saying that a blog is not news, I think the issue is that (in their opinion) a consumer can reasonably expect that a newspaper or magazine will receive samples from the manufacturer to review, but a consumer would not expect this from a blog. From section 255.5 of the guidelines linked in the article: "When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience), such connection must be fully disclosed." For example, if I read a positive review of a Mac notebook on nytimes.com, I am going to assume they get free products from Apple to review and I won't be surprised if the criticism is less than vicious, even if the product is awful. On the other hand if I read this pg essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/mac.html http://www.paulgraham.com/mac.html, I believe that is his actual opinion based on using a computer that he purchased and liked. If it were disclosed that he was receiving anything of value from Apple, I would read the essay differently.