I recognize the irony in this post – expressing the need for editors in an unedited forum. But with the plethora of blogs today, the need for sound editorial is clear. I’m all for people having their soapbox (heck, I’m standing on mine right now), but as a media consumer I want to read writing that feels like it has, well, substance; like the person who wrote it cared enough to form an thoughtful opinion before putting fingers to keyboard, or had the patience to use spell-check.

It seems that random musings and photo-heavy postings are becoming more popular than in-depth editorial. I sincerely hope this is a passing trend and not the new norm.

I’ve noticed this most obviously in publications devoted to pop culture news. I’m a big fan of music and films, but it’s sad to say that I’m often hard-pressed to find intelligent writing on either.

For example, I’ll search the name of a movie or band I’m interested in learning more about, and I’ll be redirected to gossip sites that feature a million-and-one candid shots of the film’s stars (or the band’s musicians) pumping gas or doing some other inane activity. Is this what we’re being reduced to? Watching celebrities buy coffee for entertainment? What happened to their art? Aren’t we supposed to be interested in that?

This is reflective of an even larger media problem. With newsrooms shrinking, softer beats like arts and lifestyle are getting hit hard, which means that editors don’t have time to focus on these topics like they used to. Intelligent entertainment news falls by the wayside for quick commentary on stalker-esque photos and scribbles on photos of celebrities.  I hope that this is not a sign of things to come. Will other soft beats start to be removed from the masthead? If so, what form will those beats take?

As PR professionals we’re in an interesting position right now. Newsrooms are shrinking, and many outlets, whether they like to admit it or not, need our help to flesh out their softer content. But, as PR professionals we also have a responsibility to these same media outlets.

When we’re pitching stories, we need to continue to provide sound information, intelligent story angles and truthful facts – not drivel – no matter what the beat. The final call always rests with the publications, of course (the beautiful media system of checks and balances).

But media outlets can only work with what they’ve been given. So let’s give them our best and help keep the quality of soft beats high, shall we?