Journalist brands

This blog isn't a meditation on the future of media. Plenty of other places for that. But it's understandably at the top of my mind, selfishly. Vint Cerf, the reputed "father of the Internet," had something smart to say about how things will shake out in media. Journalists need to build their own brands. In the past, it was more important to attach yourself to a brand. That still matters. Writing for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times will continue to bequeath validation. Many people talk to me because I work for Adweek. But validation will become more personal and self-made. Networks will matter more. This is how Cerf put it:

Journalism is going to become all about branding.In this gigantic mass of information that's accessible to anyone who's interacted with the Internet, how can we help people learn to trust opinions, learn to trust selections, choices and reports coming from journalists? ...[Branding] is one of the elements that will help you compete against all the other sources of information that people are exposed to.

Comments

[Todd Havens]

Is the underlying idea here that newspapers and news outlets have basically done the vetting in the past so that readers "trust" their journalists and that the muster-passing will now come down to a reader's personal opinion? A shift from the public to the individual?

[Brian Morrissey]

People nowadays can and should create their own brands. Journalism has traditionally been very institution dependent. I've described the shift this way: it now matters more to me if David Armano and other influential people recommend my article than if an editor decides to put it on the cover of Adweek. The vetting is definitely shifting in many instances.

[Todd Havens]

Gotcha. That example helps, but the playing out of this shift makes my head hurt with everyone vying for attention from a hierarchy of influential, personal brands.

Meh, maybe it's not much different from the cacophony journos already experience in a hyper-connected digital landscape.

[Andy]

You know, I want to thank you for this lovely, short piece.

I just made a connection (which may not interest you, actually):

Let us call it the "amazon connection" (it could very well be the "wikipedia connection")--> Personal branding is going long-tail.

In essence, I think this is a beautiful developement and will allow those who are truely ingenious to shine no matter how obscure the niche is which tickles his fancy.