SID=Churnalism

Well, I guess if we're honest, yes. First time to hear the term was On The Media this week as they did a story about a new website, churnalism.com, which is trying to alert the public to the way that public relations press releases are often taken by the news media, often whole.

We do a lot of writing for media, but most of the time we are clearly attributed as not being of the news outlet. Now, that said, more and more I'm seeing our content harvested straight off our website (not necessarily the press release emails, but columns and notes written just for our web) and no footnoting. KXYZ-TV or GenericHog.com being some of the worst at this -- names changed to protect the innocent.

Meanwhile, check out the OTM story and the website. It will give you pause.

Frankly, what we do isn't so much churnalism. I've coined branded journalism. We're being up front that we write from our point of view. We represent our brand.