Influencers and journalists: let’s stop confusing the roles

In recent years we have discovered a so-called revealed truth: without influencers, a brand doesn’t exist.

It doesn’t sell.

It doesn’t breathe.

It doesn’t live.

All it takes is a post with a warm filter, a cappuccino in the foreground, strategic hashtags and miracle the fate of a company is sealed.

But then something curious happens.

Every now and then, in the real world, someone still opens a newspaper.

Or reads an online article written by a journalist.

One of the real ones: who verifies sources, asks uncomfortable questions, and doesn’t use a discount code.

And that’s where the small short circuit of contemporary communication happens.

Because influencers are extremely important, of course.

They bring visibility, engagement, immediacy.

They speak the language of social media and often manage to create a direct relationship with the audience.

But real journalists do a different job.

They don’t need to please the algorithm.

They need to be credible.

They don’t need to sell a cream or a hotel for 24 hours.

They need to tell a story that lasts.

They don’t need to produce sponsored storytelling.

They need to produce information.

The difference is simple: the influencer generates attention, the journalist builds reputation.

A smart brand understands that it needs both.

One creates conversation, the other builds authority.

The problem begins when the roles are confused.

When people think that a paid review has the same value as an independent article.

When the same press release is sent to a newsroom and to a creator, assuming it’s exactly the same thing.

It isn’t.

And perhaps the real innovation in communication today is not choosing between influencers and journalists.

It’s remembering that journalists still exist.

The real ones.

The ones who, incredibly, before publishing something…

actually read it.