Marc Reeves: 'Journalists need to grow up'

Marc Reeves, launch editor of online business news site TheBusinessDesk West Midlands, told the news:rewired conference in London today that journalists need to grow up and get involved in all aspects of the media company they work for - including selling advertising.

He said: "Journalists have to grow up and realise they have to be part of the business. We can't afford the luxury of two tracks of a business that are not relating to each other at all."

Reeves, a former editor of the Birmingham Post, added: "I’ve worked with generations of hacks to whom the very idea of passing on a sales lead was regarded as a murderous betrayal of the memory of C.P. Scott."

He argued that an editorial department of journalists insulated from the rest of the business was a big mistake that could no longer be afforded.
"To all of you who are saying 'Sorry I’m just a journalist, I don’t sell advertising or organise events,' I say 'tough' that’s just the way it will be from now on. We tried it the other way and it broke.
"That artificial divide we created when we put the noisy people in a room marked ‘advertising’ and the studious types in another labelled ‘editorial’ was the biggest mistake newspapers and other media ever made.
"It allowed journalists to insulate themselves from the business they were in to the point of revelling in their detachment. . .No wonder so many didn’t see the meltdown coming."

• Marc has posted a full version of his news:rewired speech on his blog.