Everybody is a hack

Look, if you've intentionally created a "personal brand" and specifically sought to monetize your public self in order that a media company can continue to sell ads, you have ceded moral authority when it comes to criticism of that company's product. In other words, if you're getting a check for it, it's probably not a holy vocation of any sort.

I mean, I know the pay is shitty, but accepting it is tacitly a statement of personal compromise. It also means your product - and under the "personal branding" paradigm that means your actual person is the product - is sold off to the company and marketed for public consumption.  And the public reads and reacts to that. That's the whole point.  You don't get to shout back down and shame the public for reacting. You're the ones who sold out in the first place.