Customer Magazines as Hybrids of Journalism and PR

Koch, Thomas; Denner, Nora; Gutheil, Benedikt

doi:10.1002/9781119168102.ch10

Cited by 9 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…nongovernmental organizations, unions and associations) and resemble journalistic publications in terms of content and layout. The best examples of such publications are customer magazines that are published periodically by companies to communicate with their customers and usually distributed free of charge (Denner et al, 2018; Koch et al, 2020). Brand journalism has a long tradition and can be traced back over a century (Allan, 2010).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Haeusermann, 2013; Macnamara, 2016; Serazio, 2020). By producing and distributing informative and entertaining content, companies no longer depended as strongly on journalism as a vehicle for their promotional messages (Koch et al, 2020).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the organization’s strategic communication is camouflaged as journalism. Brand journalism aims at improving the image of a company, building relations with customers, increasing awareness of a company’s issues, legitimizing its interests and increasing sales (Koch et al, 2020). This can be accomplished by reporting positively on the company, its products and its services; by presenting brands in a positive light; by framing stories in a certain way; and by using multiple means of persuasive communication.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With rapidly growing audiences, companies reach millions of (potential) customers with their own media. To attract a large audience, these publications do not talk about products, but rather around products (Koch et al, 2020). They focus, for instance, on recent news (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, it is highly questionable whether brand journalism can maintain the needed distance from the organization and report in an unbiased and balanced way about the organization’s actions or products, as these publications pursue strategic goals (Koch, 2016). Important objectives of brand journalism include improving a company’s image, building relations with customers and increasing sales (Koch et al, 2020).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2021

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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.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%