new professional profile: the ADVERTORIAL journalist

... some days ago I read a rather alarming article about journalism, the (economic) pressure on journalists and the increasing importance of pr people and official spokesmen (whose information often replaces proper research conducted by journalists) - in Die Zeit -, and so I started wondering about a new kind of journalistic profile - which I'd classify as the "advertorial" type, gradually about to replace the purely "editorial" one.

Mind you, I know how the business works and that it's not all and always just about writing whatever comes to your mind (I'm talking about fashion and beauty, by the way - let's not even think about the pressure and potential uproar in the field of politics and the distribution of power structures), but I would still like to hope that we can create contents for the reader rather than (potential) advertising clients. That's what quality newspapers do, that's what good magazines do, that's what it should be about...

It is my firm belief that catering only to the demands and wishes of marketing people and transforming oneself (as a journalist) into some kind of hybrid creature quickly does away with one's own credibility and the importance of what you've got to say. Finding a middle way is probably the best solution (compromising is a must, I guess), but meanwhile I'll always prefer the editorial side of journalism...