How much journalism is in brand journalism? How brand journalists perceive their roles and blur the boundaries between journalism and strategic communication

Abstract

An increasing number of companies and other organizations publish their own news media that resemble journalistic media in terms of content, language and design. The production and distribution of these publications are often referred to as brand journalism. However, although these publications look a lot like journalistic media, they are used as strategic communication tools: They represent and legitimize an organization’s interests and aim to improve brand image, build relations with customers or increase sales. Thus, brand journalism blurs the boundaries between journalism and strategic communication. The present study focuses on brand journalists and analyses their work routines, professional role perceptions and possible role conflicts. To this end, we conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with editors of corporate magazines. The interviewees described quite strong parallels to journalistic work routines and asserted their orientation toward journalistic norms (e.g. autonomy, unbiased reporting); however, these norms were regularly undermined when the topics covered centred on their own or their clients’ organizations. Most interviewees described large parts of their professional identity as journalistic, but were also aware that they were in a hybrid role between journalism and strategic communication. This hybrid role is associated with a range of expectations that can lead to role conflicts.