In the media you don't get to "just" call someone or a company out. It inevitably makes the readers imagine comparisons in their mind. It is a status play: by lowering the status of one player in an industry, you implicitly raise the the status of the others.
Everyone who works in the media industry knows that will happen -- and I know some people who work in that industry. Even teenagers do this on social media all the time, based on an instinctive understanding of social status.
Take it or leave it, or even better, provide a rebuttal with real evidence rather than a childish emotional response!