Not everyone yet knows the media’s secret: you can pay for editorial content. We’re not talking about labelled advertorials. We’re talking about announcement slots, interviews and even news bulletin items.
The rise of these tools is useful because the trivialising of editorial makes it harder to secure broadcast of genuine news of relevance to consumers, customers and stakeholders.
News outlets have traditionally operated as a filter that insists on a reasonable amount of accuracy, impartialness, and relevance to the lives of the audience.
Paid slots remove this filter, allowing organisations to treat them like advertising – a free hit to say what you want. That removes the “news” part of the information, making them less interesting and relevant.
Paid slots work best if they retain the appearance of impartiality. PR agencies do that best because they’re your advocates, not your loudhailer.