Journalism or public relations? A quantitative survey of custom publishing editors in Germany

• The study analyzes custom publishing, a professional field between journalism and PR.
• A survey among 197 German custom publishing editors was conducted.
• Results shows that custom publishing editors professional socialization is largely journalistic.
• Most of the custom publishing editors consider themselves to be PR practitioners.
• There are several differences between custom publishing editors and journalists self-concept.

Custom publishing, the production of content that is edited in a journalistic manner for organizations, is a fast-growing professional field located at the intersection of journalism and public relations. These corporate (or organizational) publications, as a form of strategic communication, assist with organizations' image cultivation and aim to communicate their particular interests. However, in their stylistic, optical, and thematic composition, they resemble journalistic publications from which readers expect unbiased, objective reporting. This article focuses on the editors of these corporate publications, who must take into account the rules and norms of two different fields of professional activity, and looks at the extent to which custom publishing is journalistic. Therefore, we analyze the self-conception of the editors' professional role, the extent to which their day-to-day work is journalistic, and the role of truth in their reporting. To this end, a quantitative survey of custom publishing editors in Germany was carried out.