The surrender of journalism to PR

 

Andrew Sullivan said at the end of 2013 here:

"The surrender of journalism to advertizing and public relations – not alliance with, but surrender to – was the biggest media story of 2013 that the media almost didn’t cover at all."

The New York Times wrote of Time Magazine here:

"To combat these negative forces, Time Inc. will abandon the traditional separation between its newsroom and business sides, a move that has caused angst among its journalists. Now, the newsroom staffs at Time Inc.’s magazines will report to the business executives. Such a structure, once verboten at journalistic institutions, is seen as necessary to create revenue opportunities and stem the tide of declining subscription and advertising sales." 

James Harding, BBC Director of News and Current Affairs, said during his WT Stead lecture here:

"And, let’s be clear, fewer journalists does not mean less news, it means more PR – more corporate puffery, more canny product placements, more unchecked political spin. Which is fine, I guess, if you take Groucho Marx’s view of the world: “The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing,” he said, “…and if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”"