The example of an undercover reporter sending a letter to a CEO under the premise that they will write a nice article about the company if the CEO responds is pretty absurd.
It doesn't have to be a nice article. A request for comment can either be responded to, where you have a chance for your words on record, or you get "<companyname> has not responded to requests for comment as of publishing." which is worse than whatever spin you could have concocted.
Reporters who are reviewing products do. They might have 10 different blenders to review, and if there is a button that doesn't make sense a good response takes you from "2/10 the buttons don't make sense" to "9/10, the buttons are a little weird but once you get used to them..."