Brand publishers test the limits of editorial independence

A growing number of brands are broadening their publishing ambitions beyond product-first content marketing, applying more rigorous journalistic principles to their publishing initiatives in attempt to build genuinely engaged audiences with owned publications.  But there’s one particularly sticky part of that ambition that’s proving to be difficult to pin down: Defining and maintaining editorial independence. Many brand publishing executives say they’re still figuring out what editorial independence looks like within their respective organizations, and that they’re increasingly running into situations where its limits are being tested. Although leadership teams remain supportive of the concept in theory, when it’s put into practice their views on it can often become mo