Interesting article here in the Guardian on the growth of ‘Churnalism’ and how PR is eroding traditional newsroom values, such as story and fact corroboration.
It seems time-pressed journalists are copying and pasting PR copy wholesale and passing it off as reportage. Hacks churning PR content into news stories and features to save themselves time on increasing and multiple deadlines.
Shock, horror.
Churnalism has been at play for decades – but we’ve become so used to it, both inside the newsroom, and as readers – that it’s hardly surprising to see a PR-enhanced story in the Press.
I used to get bombarded by more than 250 PR emails per day on the last business trade magazine I edited. Roughly 15% of it was actually useful, the rest was deleted. Too sale-sy, not relevant to the magazine readership, or, simply, the PR copy was just crap.
For me, though, the really interesting thing to come out of the new Churnalism site – over the fabulous scrutiny it will put on lazy journalists and overly-important Account Directors such as Rubella Pymley-Bowles of Ostentatious PR believing their own inflated press releases – is the way this kind of content monitoring could affect social media, too.
Is your social media content guilty of online churnalism?
Is it original content?
Are you just regurgitating others’ blogs?
And yes, plagiarism does happen on blogs, too.
The whole issue around churnalism as a problem in the British Press, for me, is a problem for bloggers, too.
If you value your blogging and your social media content, keep it fresh, exciting, original and – above all – authentic.
It’s the only way to win.
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Yes – fair point. I think the Guardian are slightly more concerned about news and it’s overall quality, having worked their I know the editorial will have this front of mind, it’s the commercial pressure in which they succumb too. Have you read ‘Flat Earth News’ by Nick Davies? Good read. Like you say this has been a subject of discussion for fleet street and online indies, such as yourself for a long time. Still funny how you’re ironically churning along with it…content marketing equally as shameful! – just another tarts make up.
Hi Gareth
Interesting points you make, but I feel missing the point, essentially.
Big, big, big difference – of course – between the pure technical details of producing objective, balanced, thought-provoking and compelling journalism, and the less objective world of commercial online content marketing.
Although – and here’s a curve-ball thought for a seemingly-traditional Hack such as yourself – one could argue that ALL content online is, in effect, nothing more than content marketing these days.
I’d imagine such a proposition would offend your sensibilities.
But then again, I’m a commercially-minded social media editor, so I have to say it as I see it.
To my mind, comments like “content marketing is shameful” which keep newsrooms firmly in the Dark Ages.
Old-school, offline, one-dimensional thinking. Awful.
And, yes, I have read Flat Earth News. Seminal piece of content. Really glad you referenced it, thank you.