The value of integrity in B2B journalism

Many years ago, I worked with a publisher on a B2B title and we were attending our first event together in that industry. We ended up having a conversation while getting ready for the big expo.

He said, “Here’s how we do these: we go round, see our advertisers and we talk about how we can cover them editorially when they advertise.”

I replied, “You mean… hang on, I’m not sure I get you. You mean they buy an ad and that gets them editorial coverage?”

“Basically, yes.”

“No chance. If you want to do that you may have hired the wrong person. Let’s try a different way. Let’s tell them the editorial pages aren’t for sale, but they’re welcome to advertise if they’d like to. And if they have an interesting story to talk about, we will cover it whether they advertise or not.”

“Won’t work,” he told me.

“Why? Have you tried it?”

“No, it’s just not how things are done in this industry.”

I replied, “All the more reason to try it, because if my marketing budget was all about buying coverage, I’d be pretty pissed off because it would mean all the magazines are glossy toilet paper. Why would anyone read that? If we get this right, people will advertise because people will be reading.”

Our content is not for sale

Now, I should stress that the magazine in question was struggling hugely when they hired me, so I was able to get away with this crazy, mad idea. And he went for it, to his credit, and we changed things quite radically. Advertisers bought into it, revenues went up and up and the magazine did really well.

But what was I really trying to introduce? It was the idea that the content of the publication has intrinsic value. That if it’s not for sale, you can actually trust the content to lack bias and to just be… interesting. Diverse. Different. Otherwise you’re just a rag that’s there for the sake of being there. What do you bring to the industry you serve? Nothing except copying and pasting press releases, on the whole.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there. Worked on publications with so few resources that you cannot possibly do everything. And these were magazines that were making healthy profits – the lack of resources was nothing to do with a lack of money; it was to do with maximising what came in and minimising what went out.

Because why make something better when you can do it cheaper? (Sure, I’ve copied and pasted, but always tried to make those sections minimal and unimportant overall. Like, who reads the news in a print publication, unless it’s a daily newspaper, any more? So why do those sections even exist?)

How to determine your B2B publication’s value

I digress slightly, although it’s all linked in a big, intertwined mess.

Anyway, back to that idea of value. What value does a publication have? It’s not just about the database that receives it, although that’s an important fraction of its value.

The real value is in the perception of that B2B magazine or website by those readers – do they trust it? Do they engage with it, read it, revisit it, talk about it? That database is meaningless if they’re just skimming it, or not even opening the email/website/magazine. It’s just a list of people that aren’t reading at that point. Yay.

So how you present your honesty to readers is really vital. Depending on how you want to be perceived, I mean, and how seriously you want to be taken. I’ve been thinking on this a lot lately; the past several years have been really hard on the media and the many ways in which people read or digest information are mutating so rapidly it’s hard for more traditional publishers to keep on top, even in the B2B publishing sector.

That journalistic integrity, in a world of deepfakes, ‘fake news’, and ever more polarisation, is absolutely vital. It has become priceless, to put it bluntly.

In the gambling sector, I have been noticing lately that there are several B2B publishers who are taking advertising money from the less salubrious side of the industry. The suppliers and operators who operate largely, even solely, in the ‘grey’ markets; and those who operate knowingly and happily in black markets, where gambling is illegal.

Making us all look like villains

We all know why this is bad; we’ve all read the copy-and-pastes of the AGA releases that say ‘yeah but offshore operators don’t have to use any RG tools to protect players, it’s the wild west, they’re not paying taxes’.

But some of those B2B news organisations copying and pasting these releases, endorsing that point of view with their publication of these opinions, are also accepting advertising dollars from the very businesses doing the deed. The businesses not paying taxes, not looking after players, closing winning accounts without a word, utilising every means possible to stay under the radar.

You know the ones – the ones that advertise on ‘affiliate sites’ with pages headlined ‘the top not-on-Gamstop websites’, the ones where players don’t need to register, the ones where the operator doesn’t care one bit about anything other than the bank card being valid. The ones that are quite literally targeting players with gambling problems and doing it cynically, coldly and, by association, making us all look like villains.

If you’re a publisher and you’re hosting events about responsible gambling, or interviewing people about how awful offshore gambling is for those in trouble, anything even vaguely associated with this, then you’re a hypocrite and you’re as much a part of the problem as those operators.

Yes, I know times are difficult – believe me, I really, really do – but taking money from the bottom-feeding underbelly of this industry because times are hard just doesn’t wash. Sponsored posts with permalinks, banner ads for not-on-Gamstop casinos… It’s blatant and it’s growing.

I am writing for an affiliate but it’s AN AFFILIATE, not pretending to be something else. Our sites generate traffic, some of it high value, and with the changes to Google it makes sense that our sites might be more valuable. But that value comes from our very integrity.

Suckling at the black market teat

Changes to Google in the recent past have made this even more attractive to publishers because now, links from recognised ‘experts’ in the industry carry much more weight than previously. I also do some writing for an affiliate business but they’re recognisably, blatantly and obviously an affiliate, doing what affiliates do to drive traffic and create their own valuable content. They’re certainly not claiming to be one thing, endorsing the ‘good’ point of view, while their hand is outstretched behind their back waiting for that plain brown envelope.

Here’s the point: if you’re taking that money, if you’re suckling at the black market teat, you have no integrity and the industry as a whole should turn its back because it calls into question every bit of content, every event, every single thing you produce. You’re not a part of the industry any more than a tick is part of a dog.

What can we do about it? Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m not even sure what comes next in B2B journalism. I only know that we are all in this together, in this industry of gambling and casino. Life is simply too short to brook such behaviour; as one publisher said to me recently, “Is it so hard to do no harm?”

It really isn’t.