The marketing problem for the advertisers of these jobs is how do they get these new quasi-journalist roles in front of people currently working in traditional journalism…

Marketing is increasingly requiring an interdiscplinary approach, whether it’s team of different skills working together or employers building up varied experience.

The good news is Dave gave his feedback and it was heard, which is good for him and Spannerworks as it saved them losing a number of potential candidates who shared the same view as Dave.

Hi Dave

Great blog, I agree with all you’ve said about what constitutes journalism. I think maybe I should say how things are organised here at Spannerworks.

Our colleague, who formerly worked as a journalist, has the title of Copywriter. The bulk of her job is to write advertorial content and product copy, published in separate outlets to the editorial services.

Simon and I write news and blog posts, both of which are there to stand on their own merits as objective editorial. We aim to operate to the same standards of journalistic integrity as any conventional media outlet.

The clients who sign up for our editorial services understand that this kind of content cannot serve as advertorial or PR for their company – it’s ‘proper’ news, designed to add value to the client’s website because it’s genuinely useful. The client generally has no input into its creation other than to help us formulate a brief.

If it’s not the real thing, readers can get their news just as easily somewhere else – and the providers of dodgy news can be flamed in a multitude of public forums (including Hackbash), which may have a negative impact on the publisher’s reputation. So it’s in their interest to invest in proper news written by genuine journalists.

Charlie

(Relatively) recently some clever chap realised that, being human, we will eventually all kill each other (or die trying) and so built a digitised information network that could survive a nuclear-flavoured nightmare: the IntermeWeb hyper-knowledge superHighway.

It will be humanity’s time capsule and we are all invited to contribute to this living record of human consciousness.

The great writers and artists of tomorrow are blogging and coding now – they might be discovered when long since dead, the history of their skills having long survived them in binary form.

If everyone is an artist and contributor to a global cultural record we must recognise and record the importance and impact of content produced, transient and whimsical though this impact may be.

So…a journalist…might be an explorer of words, collector of thoughts or journeyman of ideas who helps weave together seemingly disparate networks of thought and conversation.

Over the course of time they maintain their Master Record of Influence – as sentient signposts in a sea of digital life-streams, guiding us gently towards our chosen path of truths. The Journalist Jedi is born…

I have to say, my estimations of the company you represent have u-turned since that original post. The willingness to change the ad is very refreshing indeed!

That said, I still take issue with the notion of ‘journalism’ coming from within a marketing agency. Your colleague, Antony, commented: “We also have one former journalist from a national magazine who writes advertorial-style copy for client and advertorial websites.”

Advertorial, as I see it, is not journalism. It’s PR, through and through. Sure, it requires accurate journalism skills like research, interviewing and similar — but then so does an essay, or a report, or any piece of informed writing.

Antony does acknowledge that advertorial does blur the boundaries between journalism and PR, but suggests that the jobs you and your colleague undertook at your magazine titles involved advertorial work and, thus, your work for Spannerworks is no different.

I’m not for a moment saying journalists don’t write advertorial. They do. I’ve written a couple (but both times insisted my name was nowhere near it). At some magazines and newspapers, journalists will be writing job adverts, or listings, or maybe even setting out Sudoku puzzles.

My point is, not all a journalist does in his/her day to day work should be considered journalism. Advertorials are not journalism — they’re long, expensive adverts. So to say that because someone was doing advertorials when they were a journalist then it surely means they are still being a journalist now is just short-sighted and a little wishful.

Of course, this whole argument falls well and truly on its face when I realise I can’t tell you exactly what I think journalism *is*. But, I’d say it was nigh on impossible to report on a subject when you have an overriding interest in it.

On a lighter note, though, you both make cracking bloggers. Very interesting reads.

Kind Regards,

Dave