Gatekeepers No More: Redefining the Roles of Journalism and PR in the Age of Digital Media and Content Marketing

Abstract

The digital media landscape has fundamentally changed the way audiences consume and share content, creating many opportunities and challenges for news companies and organizations of all types (private, public and non-profit). This research investigates how the latter have gained the ability to produce and distribute journalistic-like content through their owned channels, thus circumventing journalists and engaging with their audiences directly. It shows how digital media have altered the manner in which news about organizations is disseminated, and, subsequently, the roles of PR practitioners and journalists. Through a series of interviews with seasoned experts in these two competing and collaborating fields, this project provides insights regarding the erosion of journalists’ gatekeeping role and the advent of PR practitioners as content creators. It supports prior research regarding the value of reciprocity between journalists and PR practitioners and offers orientations as to the future of these two professions in the context of the digital media landscape.