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Journalist On Two Sides of A Great Divide & Controversy

The Conflict of: Traditional Journalism vs Brand Journalism

There is a very large controversy and conflict surrounding brand journalism, as it exists between journalists and marketers. This is placing journalist on two sides of a great divide. There is a conflict with ethics between the different professions. Traditional journalists and brand journalists has different point of views of each other. As well as the traditional journalist and brand journalist has different advertising beliefs too. In this fact driven, unbiased report I will explain how content marketers comes into play as well. I will show you that even though they have conflicts they have some similarities as well.

Traditional Journalism

There comes a great conflict when defining traditional journalism and brand journalism because everyone has his or her own ideas of what each is. Wikipedia defines traditional journalism as “gathering, processing, and dissemination of news and information related to the news to an audience. The word applies to both the method of inquiring for news and the literary style which is used to disseminate. ” Basically Merriam Webster puts it as the activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio .

Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/44124466908@N01/423850162/">Steve Rhodes</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

Brand Journalism

Where as the University of Alaska Anchorage defines brand journalism as “ this is what happens to a brand in the world,” plus creates ad communications that, over time, can tell a whole story of a brand. The University of Alaska Anchorage Brand Journalism article goes on to describe brand journalism as using the credibility and influence of news to tell a corporate story in order to achieve competitive differentiation. It is rooted in the principles of traditional journalism and good storytelling but is still vastly different. It uses the full range of multimedia – including HD video, audio and photography – to tell stories. It invites a two-way conversation around stories on all the full ranges of social media platforms. It brings together this journalism with the core elements of strategic PR and marketing communications – visionary planning, research, incisive messages and a defined purpose. The conflict of having more than one definitions is having more than one understandings and this is were lines and job descriptions get blurred of forgotten.

Conflict With Ethics

Now that we have an a better understanding of what traditional and brand journalism is lets move on to the controversy behind the ethics that goes into it. Both brand and traditional journalism still have a high ethical standard plus code to uphold. They are still considered the “Fourth Estate” meaning they are still the fourth branch of the government. K. Gill stated in the article What is fourth estate? on About New's website. Meaning they still have to report news to those standards plus check the facts and make sure the stories are honest, accurate, plus fair. The main issue with ethics is that it is impossible at time to tell the difference between journalism and brand journalism. The University of Wisconsin’s Center for Journalism Ethics article Brand Journalism puts it plainly “the difference lies not so much in how the story is reported, but in why it was commissioned, and who owns it.". Which is were the real ethics starts, and the journalists become responsible. When brand journalism is crossed over with real news or is mistaken for real news. This can cause a great problem with ethics because the source could not be held accountable and could use bad judgment and releases news with out making sure it is upheld with facts. Also brand journalism is about telling a story of a brand more than tell the real hard news. In brand journalism the story is being told to individual and consumers. Where as in traditional journalism the story is being told to the public. The hard news gets lost or hidden behind the brands promotion.

Real News Lost In Brand Journalism

The New York Times published a very beautify plus articulate written article called Women Inmates:Why the Male Model Doesn’t Work by Melanie Deziel hat was well researched. In addition, to having just as amazing video plus immaculate graphics the article was really impressively put together. The article was about the woman’s prison system and shed light on to some important facts. The problem with the article that cause some ethical disagreements is that even though it is such a great article it was paid for by Netflix and was used as promotion for the new season of “Orange is The New Black.” This is a tactic of brand journalism that causes conflict. The biggest ethical problem with branded journalism is that it is not presented as advertising, however that is certainly what it’s used for. It is easy to spot obvious advertisements in newspapers, magazines, and on television. It is clear that full-page ads and loud, colorful commercials are selling products. Brand journalism, however, is a trickier type of advertising, because it is not detached from real news stories. Rather, it is placed right alongside real news plus delivers real news, but there is a very small postscript that lists the name of the company that paid for this news to be delivered.

Different Worlds With Different Views

Even though they have to follow the same ethical rule traditional and brand journalist have different views of each other. Kay Layinue spoke of this well in her aticle Controversy and conflict surrounding brand journalism. She made a point that brand journalist look at journalism as a method to promote a particular brand, that creates a authoritative voice. Rather than push to make a sale. Brand journalist feels that good brand journalism tells a story. Where as, traditional journalist look at journalism to ultimately aim to build credibility between the brand and their consumers. Traditional journalist feel that both brand journalists and companies noticed that their consumers are not easily to get deceived, and they are less tolerant of interruptions by advertisement. Brand journalism is becoming the standard for both large and small businesses, and the majority of businesses are still trying hard to arrange how to use it effectively while still keeping traditional journalism in play.

Content Marketing

Now I bet your wondering were content marketing fits into all this. Well let’s first define what content marketing is. The Content Marketing Institute defines it in their article Six Useful Content Marketing as “the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

Content Marketing = Brand Journalism

Now that you have a better understanding of what content marketing is, lets explain how this all connects and where the problem is caused. Brand Journalism, is often referred to as Content Marketing, has been around in varied formats for centuries. A great video by the Content Marketing Institute delivers some history on content marketing. In this video it shows as early as 1895, John Deere produced a customer magazine called “The Furrow”. Then in 1904 Jell-O produced the

“Jell-O Recipe Book” to interact with its customers.

With content marketing being on the market newspaper sales were down and business were using some form of content marketing to promote a relationship with their consumer base “Basically, content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. The conflict in this is if you look at both brand journalism and content marketing your wondering what’s really different and that’s just it essentially they are the same thing. Brand Journalism equals content marketing simple as that.

Lets Wrap Things Up

In conclusion, there is a very large controversy and conflict surrounding brand journalism, as it exists between journalists and marketers. This is placing journalist on two sides of a great divide. There even comes a great conflict when defining traditional journalism and brand journalism because everyone has his or her own impression of what each is. Both brand and traditional journalism still have a high ethical standard plus code to uphold. K. Gill stated in the article What is fourth estate? on About New's website that they are still considered the “Fourth Estate” meaning they are still the fourth branch of the government. Meaning they still have to report news to those standards plus check the facts and make sure the stories are honest, accurate, plus fair.

Even though they have to follow the same ethical rule Traditional and brand journalist have different views plus opinions of each other. Even when you add in content marketing there is a conflict because is has the same aspects of brand journalism but is called something different and is still bringing in different aspects than that of traditional journalism. Along with being in completion with tradition journalism. Bust truly even though they are in conflict with each other they are essentially the same just different names in different places. They are trying to spread some type of news, be it for a brand, a hard-hitting issues, or a brand trying to communicate with its consumer. Basically they all have vast conflicts but it just one form of journalism evolving from the next trying to spread a general message. With the evolution comes new responsibilities as well that are incorporated in to each position. Brand journalists, plus traditional journalists, now have to have a wide rage of skill sets plus still uphold the traditional standards of journalism.

They still have to incorporate storytelling by putting their selves at the center of the story literally were they are taking the power. This is an advantage to them both because they now can tell the story in their own form plus manner and platform. In addition to now having all the advances in technology including social media, they all can shoot plus capture essential stories, edit, enhance, and share directly form their mobile devices with in matter of seconds. Showing that even though they have great content they still are the same and have to bring their stories to life just like the other.

Basically the company Constantly put it the best in their article Why You Need to Stop Using the Term ‘Brand Journalism’ “If your purpose is to increase ROI for a business by obtaining more customers, you’re not in the journalism game. Plus calling your branded content “journalism” is damaging because it may come across as a deceptive to readers. Instead, you want to build trust by acknowledging your prejudice and bias as a brand. It doesn’t matter if your “brand newsroom” is stocked with current or former journalists. As Jay Rosen, author of the Press Think blog and professor at New York University, explained to Contently: “Content marketing with informational value is addressed to the customers. (Current and potential.) Journalism is addressed to the public.”

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