News and Journalism are not synonyms

My most recent bugbear has been the confusion between “news” and “journalism” in the online debate about the future of our industry. As I see it, news is a subset of journalism, but not the entirety of it. But then, as a former features editor, I would say that, wouldn’t I? 🙂

I was reminded of this over lunch, most of which I spent reading this feature from Vanity Fair: The Case of the Vanishing Blonde, linked by Kottke.

It’s not, by any standards, news. The core facts and events were reported a while back. But it is a great piece of journalism. Compelling reading, telling a great story that’s factual. It’s great, compelling feature writing. (And yes, I did read it on a screen…) Great journalism, in other words.

About Adam Tinworth

Adam is a digital journalism analyst, trainer and consultant. He started his career publishing newspapers for the children on his street in the 1980s, edited student magazines in the 1990s, and then spent a decade as a business journalist. In 2006, he moved full-time into digital journalism development. Since 2012, he's been trading as an independent consultant, and has worked with everything from national and international newspapers, to small local charities.