Many thanks for your inputs – much appreciated.

Actually, I completely agree with your position and thinking: for far too long, newsroom journos have been removed from the sales process within the business of publishing, and their role as content-providers has evolved more rapidly in the last decade than was possibly thought imaginable.

I completely relate to the concept of journalists being more commercially-aware: in my last business magazine role, for example, I would regularly liase with key advertisers and clients, ensuring they were on track, and happy with their involvement in the publications I edited. I also assisted in developing relationships between the sales teams and the advertisers on a regular basis.

However.

The role I hyperlinked is a new mutation of this – an attempt to make an editor role and new business manager position the same, effectively rolling both roles into one. This, I feel, is a dangerous move, and one which many experienced, commercially-savvy senior editors would balk at.

Interesting development, nonetheless…

Many thanks again.

Perhaps more alarmingly, it doesn’t bother me as much. I believe journalism has to break out of its commerce-free ivory tower if it is to survive and engage with the fact that it has to learn how to make money. (I almost said “monetise”. I’m sorry.)

As a result, I think some of the most important things journalism students need to learn now (apart, perhaps, from how to spell and construct coherent sentences) are business skills. Which may have to include sales too – or at least marketing.