Journalists are facing an existential crisis; more than 16,000 were dumped in 2020; 3,087 in 2023 and another 500 this past January. Surprisingly, their last best hope can come from an unexpected savior—an industry that itself is in a world of massive change.

Advertising.

This solution is unexpected due to these two worlds having a long, cohabitation-free history. I've hired and mentored more than 100 advertising copywriters over the years. Some soared, some were qwerty challenged.

Yet I can't think of a single one of them who studied journalism, worked in journalism, followed it intentionally or thought at all about the interrelationship of the fields.

Ironically, thwarted desire tends to be the only link between journalists and copywriters: There are drafts of the great American novel in the back of their many drawers of hope.
 

These parallel corridors are explainable. The work could not be more different. Journalists enter the field with a mission to capture the world and report it back—sometimes “objectively,” other times in opinion pieces—but always to communicate what they see as the essence of reality.

This higher sense of purpose has never been met by appropriate compensation. A mid-level creative director can earn twice as much as an awarded journalist—and this was pre-hemorrhage. So, resentment of the overpaid sellouts is endemic.

By contrast, opportunistic advertising sellouts create their own branded realities. Copywriters invent company and product stories with the goal of stimulating desire. Copywriters don’t report on what is, they are architects of lust. I love this quote from British essayist and novelist Norman Douglas: “You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.”

But unusual times call for curious convergences. And we are in a moment where these two ideologically opposed domains need each other in a way they never have. Journalists need the succor of advertising for all the reasons I have described.

And to be clear, I am not talking just of news reporters. Every beat has been eviscerated—sports, culture, art, books, music, architecture, real estate—you name it. This is talent ready for the Great Career Transfer.

Advertising’s need for a journalistic infusion may be less obvious, but it is very real. The shift to digital marketing—more than half of global ad spend—and the role of social media creates the need for different skills than traditional copywriters have been trained in.

The days of having expansive canvases of magazine and newspaper ads are long gone. Similarly, short-form video, whether in the form of Instagram Reels, TikTok videos or pre-roll digital ads, is replacing traditional TV commercials.

In this fast-twitch world, what’s required is the ability to rapidly generate punchy headlines—a gift for compressed idea grenades. Journalists have been trained in speed and grab as their media overlord bosses have pushed them hard to generate highly consumable content. They have been trained to track clicks and reader engagement—perfect backgrounding for today’s advertising writing.

Ironically, so-called and disparagingly termed “clickbait” journalism is simply advertising in disguise.

Also required today is the ability to create and edit compelling video, which reporters have learned as they have increasingly had to do more in a world of resource shrinkage.

Journalists are also perfectly suited for developing content, website copy and messaging. Digital advertising requires persuasive long-form storytelling and I believe that those trained in journalism can do a better job than copywriters whose skills rarely extend beyond two paragraphs.

If my thesis is right, then how can the thousands of axed journalists reinvent themselves as the copywriters of tomorrow?

Three things have to happen. First, they need to gain an understanding of the industry they might have turned up their noses at. Nasal realignment can begin at the School of Visual Arts, Miami Ad School and many others options.  If you are a journalist reading this, go for it!

The second requirement is that the HR departments and hiring managers at agencies and on the client side open their eyes and widen their apertures beyond the typical sources of creative talent. By “client” I am speaking of both large brands that have in-house creative teams, and start-up tech companies that often have product people writing dreary copy for apps and websites.

Finally, those in the middle of the market—including recruiters and innovative new marketplace concepts such as Moonshoot—need to develop outreach to the thousands of journalists pounding the pavement as a new bridge to opportunity.

As someone who has seen great talent populate the creative side of advertising, I speak with saddened certainty when I say that the current level of writing sucks. The industry would benefit from the vitality, alertness, freshness and hunger that reporters, columnists and other editors would bring to advertising.

This migration won’t save journalism, but it sure can rescue a lot of journalists.