The Financial Times has a great piece about the growth of ‘owned media’ – which is a company-run PR site that presents itself as a broad news outlet.
As it points out, changing patterns of consumption makes it very easy for this type of content to be read as “real” news – even if the company behind it is upfront about its intentions.
Meanwhile, the demand on real newsrooms to do more with less – and at a faster pace than ever before – has also made it easier for those “real” news outlets to pick this content up, or at the very least use it as a foundation for fresh work.
And that’s not getting into the increased collaboration of news outlets with PR firms, be it through native advertising or other sponsored content.