Not long ago, the hardtracking staff promised to examine brand journalism, another flavor-of-the-month among the branded content set.

And so, here we go.

Start with PR Newser (“Is ‘Brand Journalism’ the New PR?”), which says American Express’s Open Forum is a legit news source, as is HSBC’s Business without Borders. They are “legitimate media outlets designed to promote their underlying brands without directly selling or marketing the products in question by providing relevant, valuable information to their target audiences via original content, guest writers and media partnerships with other prominent third-party  brands like Mashable.”

Cisco’s The Network, however, not so much.

But then there’s Forbes blogger Lewis DVorkin, a gasbag of Citgoesque proportions, who recently wrote this in a post headlined The Birth of Brand Journalism and Why It’s Good for the News Business . . . 

Read the rest at Sneak Adtack.