Week of Feb. 6, 2025

From the editor’s desk

Have you heard the term “earned media”? It’s something that PR agencies offer to clients—media coverage of an organization’s products, services or events. It’s called “earned media” because the media outlet publishes or broadcasts this content on its own accord, not because it has been paid to do so.

As one PR expert put it in a Forbes Communications Council post, “Earned media is … unpaid media where your views are endorsed, elevated and distributed by media outlets through interviews, published quotes and appearances.”

From a marketing perspective, earned media is great. What local restaurant doesn’t want a framed feature on the wall for all to see? What local theater company doesn’t want a thoughtful, well-informed preview to post on its socials? (Oh look, here’s one now!)

From an independent newspaper’s perspective, “earned media” is just what we do—although that’s not the term we use. We call it independent journalism, written and published by news writers, critics and columnists whose opinions cannot be bought.

Any given piece of “earned media” itself is not inherently problematic. But there’s a different side of this coin that is problematic. 

The same PR expert who defined “earned media” in the Forbes post added, “Earned media also fuels the entire communications ecosystem.” This claim leaves out a crucial part of that communications system: Earned media does not put a drop of much-needed revenue into the very media outlets on which PR clients rely to produce it.

As RN&R publisher Jimmy Boegle pointed out in a recent conversation, the real problem here is that earned media is trending, and it’s trending hard. PR agencies are, more and more, advising their clients to shoot for media placement and forgo ad purchases altogether.

To be clear, the RN&R does not engage in direct, quid-pro-quo arrangements with advertisers. Much as we appreciate your business, journalistic ethics dictate that our decisions about who and what to report on are made separately from who advertises with us. However, there is an indirect but important relationship between ads and our content: If no one were to advertise with us, we would not exist, and there would be no content.

People often ask me what they can do to help the RN&R thrive. The fastest, easiest way to help make that happen is to advertise with us, and encourage your colleagues to advertise with us.

To the businesses, cultural organizations and others who already do advertise with the RN&R, thank you! You are an important cornerstone of our sustainability.

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor