Journalism and advertising have always been closely connected but a recent article written by Anthony Ha suggests that the relationship might be closer than we thought.
Companies are using journalism more than ever to promote their products.They are looking for ways to become more credible online and increasing their use of blogs and social media. The article suggests that rising journalist may find themselves working for companies and promoting products rather than working for newspapers and magazines.
Good news for journalism students.
I love anytime someone emphasizes that a degree in journalism doesn't mean you are heading straight to the newsroom. Personally, I love studying newspapers and the industry. I think is is fascinating to see where things are heading but I have no desire to actually cover a beat. But is content marketing too close to a public relations move to be considered journalism?
Here is the example from the article -
"Yaron Galai, CEO of content recommendation startup Outbrain, recalled a campaign that he ran with a hotel chain. At first, the chain promoted a blog post about its iPad app, but when that failed to pique anyone's interest, it refocused on a blog post listing the top hotel apps—the advertiser was on the list, but not at the top. More importantly, it was an article that people actually wanted to read, and it resulted in more downloads for the hotel."
The first blog post was clearly a PR move. It was written about the specific app with the intention of promoting it. The second post is debatable. Is it a PR? It was still attempting to promote the app. Was it journalism because the report was objective? The article featured other apps and the advertiser wasn't even at the top of the list!
What do you think?
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