5 journalism habits that brands should avoid

Marrying communications and marketing with a journalistic approach can result in high-quality content that’s of value to the public, as opposed to purely promotional copy.

But there are some bad habits in newsrooms. Here are five things about journalists that a new generation of content creators should be careful not to emulate.

Circling the wagons

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, the New York Post splashed two innocent men on its front page and painted them as possible terrorists.

So what did the Post have to say for itself after the cover went down in infamy?

“We stand by our story,” New York Post editor Col Allen said when he finally offered a statement.

Those five words have been the standard reply from newsrooms when the worst happens within journalistic ranks, such as plagiarism or fabrication.

Circling the wagons means refusing to acknowledge obvious failures or to otherwise engage in a discussion about your journalistic practices.