This insightful video by Ryan of FortNine was just pointed out to me by @GeoMoto (on FB because he loves Mark Zuckerberg more than me) and it's the sad truth.
But I celebrate this because this is what makes a forum like XLADV stand out; it's that we have "dirt cred" and are not the paid press.
There's also quite a bit of change afoot as the OEMs are seeing the slow death spiral of print and online media and beginning to reach out more to the grass roots online influencers (who still have credibility).
That's not to say there isn't still a lot of good moto journalism out there. There most certainly is.
Honda's been VERY helpful with loaning press bikes but that's it. BETA reached out to offer me a rally bike for Baja Rally but then reneged. Ural reached out and offered a press bike then when I said "sure" they couldn't be bothered to respond. KTM, BMW, Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati (met their CEO; fantastic guy) still haven't offered anything. But give it time