Those are PR jobs, not journalists’ jobs.

A staggering amount of the news agenda is driven by PRs already; what there is in the system at the moment is at least the notional idea that taking a feed from them in the way you would from say the AP or Reuters would be hugely compromising.

Perhaps Uncommon is right – maybe journalists need to cut the ties to businesses and ensconce themselves in nonprofit foundations and the like.

Journalism is costly to produce on a large scale. It requires a benefactor – like education – since the general population can’t afford it, won’t pay for it, and they don’t miss it till it’s gone (long gone). Unfortunately, they CAN afford lousy content and WILL pay for it. Right now, the industry that used to support the service of quality journalism has lost its former control of information delivery and can’t afford to be its benefactor.

Publishing doesn’t necessarily care what the people are coming for – lousy content or quality journalism or annoying quizzes about “what kind of beer would you be”? – it is in the business of pairing an audience with its advertisers. Journalism as a craft needs to find a new or modified home. If it’s still within the publishing industry then it needs to understand the business of publishing, and find a brand or market whose advertisers want to be paired with an audience who craves quality journalism. (The cynic in me could go on here, but I’ll spare the reader!)

I believe top editorial leaders should be pushing the question hard to their publishers and CEOs to ask where quality journalism factors into the new business model. And not to demand that it remains a factor but to objectively consider the new business model for that particular brand and business and make a determination about what products and services it can offer to remain successful.

What happens if the answer is that quality journalism isn’t – or can’t be – the priority? You lose your true journalists and your editorial department become content producers of not-necessarily-journalism. Maybe that’s too much of a risk to say out loud but we wouldn’t be talking about it if it wasn’t staring us in the face. And we’re wasting time.

No. It is an activity that anyone can do or hire out.
Like painting your bedroom walls, or mowing your yard.

There are people who can do it quite well on the side, and people who do it poorly when they try.

There are people who are paid to do it, and do it quite well, and there are people who are paid to do it who should really be doing something else.