Jan, you're comparing apple preserve to orange marmalade. A proper comparison would be to say if companies feel they can sue bloggers then bloggers can counter sue too. Is this move towards becoming an over-litigious society desirable? If you really want to use the ethic of reciprocity, try this: Yes, bloggers are on a publicly-viewable platform. If this platform is so influential more companies should start using the same publicly-viewable platform too. The million-dollar question is, why aren't they?

It cuts both ways. If bloggers feel that they have a right to express negative views (as well as positive ones, of course) on a publicly-viewable platform, then they shouldn't be surprised to find that businesses or individuals may feel they have a right to take legal action, if they deem the blogger's views to be defamatory or affecting their reputation. Unless the legal authorities say otherwise, bloggers can't assume they are protected from legal actions merely because they are a "Blogger".

maybe all those reviews on newspapers and magazines are self paid?