At the end of this week, I’ll be packing up my life in Cleveland, and moving to Baltimore to work for the Baltimore Ravens digital media team.

Growing up as a sports fan, it has been a dream of mine to work in the NFL, and this job gives me the unique opportunity to fulfill that goal with one of the best franchises in the pro sports.

I’m joining a digital media team that has a stellar reputation in the industry, and am looking forward to learning as much as possible, as quickly as I can.

I could not be more excited about this opportunity.

The position became available in the middle of the season, which creates an interesting set of challenges as I move into the role. With the Ravens once again in contention for a playoff bid, I won’t have time to wade into this job.

I’m jumping right in. And I’m fine with that.

The toughest part about making the move to Baltimore is leaving WEWS, the place I “officially” started my career and spent the last 16 months.

Simply put, my time at WEWS was incredible.

I was in the middle of the biggest sports story in the country, played an integral role in the evolution of a traditional newsroom, helped break new ground with our high school football coverage, and sat through a rare Cleveland earthquake. Twice.

The people I worked with at WEWS are smart, supportive and creative, and I learned more from watching the newsroom operate than they—or I—even realize. I worked alongside some iconic faces of Cleveland television, and my co-workers could not have been more helpful.

As a 22-year-old who started the job one week out of college, that welcoming atmosphere made WEWS a place I wanted to be. And that’s what makes it tough to leave.

But at some point you have to move on, and now is that time.

As I went through this process, legendary WEWS anchor Leon Bibb told me, “When it’s time to go, you’ll know, and then you gotta go.”

Well, now I know. And it’s time for me to go to Baltimore.

Thank you, WEWS…. And go Ravens!

Cleveland Browns fans had seen the story before: missed opportunities followed by a late score and crushing defeat.

The difference, however, was that the Browns flipped the script this time around and found a way to win. The Browns came from behind with a late fourth quarter drive to beat the Dolphins 17-16, improving to 2-1 for the first time since 2002.

“Those are the types of games we need to start winning,” wide receiver Josh Cribbs said. “And we finally went out there and got it done today.”

It seemed like the Browns had every opportunity to lose the game, and for fans who have watched the team struggle for years, the ending looked all but certain.

For three and a half quarters, the Browns offense struggled mightily. Quarterback Colt McCoy said they were “out of sync,” and that allowed the Dolphins to control most of the game and then take a 16-10 lead with 3:26 left in the game.

But when the team needed him most, McCoy was ready.

McCoy responded with the kind of characteristic fourth quarter drive this team has needed from a starting quarterback. He drove the team 80 yards in 2 minutes 40 seconds and made easily his pass of the day to hit wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi in the corner of the end zone, giving the Browns the lead and making all of the previous miscues an afterthought.

“As ugly as it was, it’s a huge win for us,” McCoy said. “We’ll definitely gain some confidence from this.”

McCoy saved his best for last, and was nearly perfect on the final drive. He spread the ball around to six players, completed 9 of 15 passes and then tossed a strong pass to Massoquoi, who made an acrobatic catch in the end zone.

McCoy–the second year player the Browns are hoping can become the franchise quarterback–was the unquestioned leader on the field. The game-winning drive showed that he has the kind of toughness and leadership ability the team has been looking for in a quarterback.

“It is way too early to say that I am a hero by all means,” McCoy said. “I certainly would be the first to tell you that I’ve got a ton of work to do to lead this football team.”

Even after scoring the late touchdown, the Browns nearly handed the game back to the Dolphins, thanks to 30 yards in penalties, giving Miami starting field position at the Browns 47 yard line needing only a field goal to win.

As the Browns defense took the field, the “here we go again” feeling hit the 66,000 in attendance at the stadium. The defense, just like it had done all day long, held strong and safety Mike Adams came up with an interception.

“We could not give up an inch,” cornerback Joe Haden said. “Everybody just gutted up and did their job.”

After the interception, McCoy and the offense came onto the field for one more play–this time, in the victory formation.

The victory gave the Browns a winning record for the first time in four seasons, and keeps them tied with Pittsburgh and Baltimore atop the AFC North standings.

It was a game where the winning team made plenty of mistakes—and will have a host of issues to correct for future weeks—but in the NFL, the final score is the only line that truly matters.

“We all saw it,” head coach Pat Shurmur said. “It wasn’t pretty.”

But it was a win, and for a team that has struggled to collect them, that’s all that matters.

One of the trademark aspects of the show, especially in recent years, has been the prevalence of the cameo. Everyone from Matt Damon to LeBron James to Kanye West have appeared on the show, making Entourage as somewhat of a right of passage in popular culture.

In honor of the series’ final episode on Sunday, I’ve decided to put together a list of all the sports cameos from the last eight seasons.

If I missed anybody, comment below and let me know.

LeBron James

Tom Brady

Michael Phelps

Lamar Odom

Mark Cuban

Jerry Jones

Vitali Klitschko

Chuck Liddell

Evander Holyfield

Lennox Lewis

Brian Urlacher

Michael Buffer

Phil Mickelson

Steve Nash

Shawne Merriman

Linda Cohn

Jim Edmonds

Chris Moneymaker

Adrian Peterson

Mike Tyson

Chris Bosh

Kevin Love

Drew Brees

Ryan Howard

Jordan Farmar

Amare Stoudamire

Michael Strahan

Alex Rodriguez

Mark Teixeira

I heard that response about five times today. I saw it on Twitter about 100 times.

The reality that Beyonce’s “baby bump” could lead to 8,868 tweets per second (TPS) seemed shocking, especially when the final minutes of the women’s World Cup Final generated 7,196 TPS and breaking news of terror leader Osama bin Laden’s death lead to 5,106 TPS.

We know that Beyonce is a star, but still, a new Twitter record seems bit much. Until you consider some of the contributing factors.

Beyonce’s announcement came immediately after her performance on the MTV Video Music Awards, which integrated Twitter throughout the show, the pre-show and the promotion leading up to the broadcast. MTV knows its audience falls in the category of heavy social media users, and MTV uses that to its advantage.

During the East Coast broadcast of the VMA’s, there were 10 million VMA-related tweets, the most of any awards show to date. Overall, the VMAs have been the most discussed television show in the last week, generating nearly five times as much social media chatter as the second-highest ranked show, Jersey Shore, according to the social television rating service Trendrr.tv.

And it wasn’t all Beyonce talk. The information from Trendrr shows that Beyonce wasn’t even one of the top five most popular hashtags, evidence that the VMA social media success extended far beyond her big announcement.

The television broadcast was certainly aided by the online discussion, as the VMA’s scored MTV the biggest audience in network history, with 12.4 million total viewers.

Television records. Social media records. It’s hard to say if one of driving the other, but it’s nearly impossible to argue that they aren’t related.

All of these factors show that the VMA’s were the perfect example of audience engagement. And more television stations and news organizations should take note.

MTV knows its audience and encouraged its viewers to be part of the show by interacting on social networks throughout the broadcast. Television is no longer a one-way medium, and MTV showed the ability to connect an audience of active viewers.

What if other organizations could follow suit?

The company’s updated social media policy is no different.

Soon after ESPN released its amended social networking policy for talent and reporters, the Twittersphere took the company to task–specifically for one guideline.

Part of policy reads:

Do not break news on Twitter. We want to serve fans in the social sphere, but the first priority is to ESPN news and information efforts. Public news (i.e. announced in news conferences) can be distributed without vetting. However, sourced or proprietary news must be vetted by the TV or Digital news desks. Once reported on an ESPN platform, that news can (and should) be distributed on Twitter and other social sites.

The reaction went something like… Don’t break news on Twitter? Isn’t that the point of Twitter?? HOW DARE YOU?!?

Settle down. The fine print in the guideline provides some clarity–and sense–to the rule.

ESPN says this only applies to certain stories, and that “breaking” public information from a press conference or team release is fine. No need to run that up the ladder.

However, exclusive sourced or proprietary information must pass through the editing process, just like a story that would get broadcast on TV or published on the website or magazine. For that content, ESPN says reporters should get editorial approval and first publish the story on (at least) one of its platforms.

That approach has two key benefits:

1. The people ESPN pays to be editors maintain editorial control
2. A link is created, and ESPN’ers are tweeting out a link to their story, bringing people back to the website. (Page views= $$$).

The guideline is not that unique. I think most news organizations attempt to maintain something similar and prefer tweet a link back to their story when breaking news. It makes sense, and it really does not take much more time. (At our station, creating a story and providing a link back to the website only takes about an extra 1-2 minutes. Usually we take that additional step, unless the information absolutely needs an immediate social media response).

Bringing people back your news organization’s website is the smart thing to do, and ESPN clearly understands that value.

Although ESPN just announced its new policy, don’t expect to see any big changes. The “do not break news on Twitter” rule appeared to be in place for some time, and most of ESPN’s reporters have already adopted the approach.

“We have a rule at ESPN that all breaking news must be filtered through our news desk (not tweeted),” Bill Simmons wrote on Oct. 13, 2010. “That’s why our reporters (Schefter, Stein, Bucher, whoever) tweet things like, “JUST FILED TO ESPN…”

So it looks like that specific guideline isn’t really that new. Now, it’s just more official.

The rest of the policy is fairly straightforward: Know you’re representing ESPN so don’t tweet anything really dumb. Be careful about what you re-tweet. Be respectful. Don’t air out the company’s dirty laundry. And don’t start a website or blog that has sports content competing with ESPN.

Simple.

One aspect of the policy that is a little disconcerting, however, is the guideline that tells ESPN talent “Do not discuss how a story or feature was reported, written, edited or produced; stories or features in progress; interviews conducted; or any future coverage plans.”

The problem with that rule is the ban its places on discussing the process of the company’s journalism, something that can equally benefit ESPN employees and competitors.

“Being reflexive — publicly — about how any of us do our jobs helps all of us do our jobs better,” writes Timothy Burke of SportsGrid.com.

For the most part the policy is a strong, appropriate set of guidelines, even if the initial reaction makes it seem crazy.

ESPN also recognizes that the policy is hardly etched in stone, saying “We realize this is a fast moving space and these guidelines will be amended as warranted.”

And even if it were a perfect set of rules, people would still find a reason to complain. After all, it is ESPN.

The problem, however, is when those college kids using social media are high profile athletes who generate millions of dollars for their college institutions. Then things get a little more complicated.

To deal with the challenges of (student) athletes using social media–specifically Twitter–an increasingly popular strategy for college coaches has been to simply ban athletes from tweeting. It’s the easiest and most painless approach to control what information players put out there for public eyes to see.

The message from coaches is clear: I don’t trust you not to say something stupid.

“It’s just a distraction that we just don’t really need to have right now,” Boise State football coach Chris Peterson said after he banned his players from tweeting. “There’s plenty of time in their lifetime for Twitter.”

Coaches have plenty of evidence to support their concerns over the ills of Twitter. Trash talk tweets. Angry tweets. Dumb tweets. Drunk tweets.

To most coaches, it’s another headache to deal with, and banning Twitter is the easiest way to solve the problem. Gregg Doyel of CBSsports calls it “Self Preservation 101.

“If a college athlete says the wrong thing on Twitter,” Doyel wrote, “people like me are going to hear about. We’re going to talk about it on the radio and write about it in the newspaper or on the Internet.”

Doyel is right, but blaming Twitter for some athletes using it the wrong way is not much different than banning all players from talking with the media. It’s the latest “shoot the messenger” argument.

Some of the same players say dumb things to the media, but are coaches going to ban all players from doing interviews?

No. They work with the players to teach them how to handle and interact with the press, and those practices shouldn’t change based on the medium.

Twitter can be a great and powerful tool, and coaches and athletics departments should embrace the opportunity to teach athletes how to use it properly.

“Why don’t coaches or sports information staffs bring in someone to teach players how to use it?” CNBC’s Darren Rovell wrote in a recent blog. “Odds are most players are going to get more out of learning how to use instantaneous publishing tools as compared to applying the actual plays they learn to their work life.”

It’s a great idea, and something that all college teams should do: Host a social media summit, training players on the right and wrong things to broadcast through Twitter. Without that kind of education, Twitter can certainly lead to trouble.

The reality is that Twitter can be a distraction for college athletes—specifically high profiles ones. But so can many other aspects of college life.

The difference, however, is that Twitter can have a benefit beyond the college years, especially if someone takes the time to teach student athletes how to use it appropriately.

But that educating might just get in the way of winning games, and isn’t that what college athletics is all about?

The NFL knows its has a cozy deal–one that the other professional leagues wish they could match–and the league showed on Thursday that it will do everything possible to protect that partnership.

In an unprecedented move, the NFL announced Thursday that it will force former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor to serve a five-game suspension once he signs a contract with a team after the supplemental draft. The suspension begins after the preseason, and is the same length as the one he was handed down by Ohio State for selling team issued gear in exchange for tattoos.

Pryor broke no laws. He didn’t even break an NFL rule. And he fit the requirements (that a player’s NCAA eligibility or academic standing changes from the time of the draft and supplemental draft) of a player applying for entry into the supplemental draft.

But still, he’s facing an NFL suspension before he’s been hired, stemming from wrongdoing in the eyes of the NCAA.

“We are not enforcing NCAA rules,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote on Twitter in response to the Pryor decision. “We are upholding our own eligibility rules, which have never been based on the notion that a college player could choose to violate NCAA rules, obtain declaration that he is ineligible for college [football], then enter the NFL draft.”

The reality, however, is that the NFL is enforcing NCAA rules. Pryor did not choose to violate NCAA guidelines as a way to avoid the April draft and sneak in through the supplemental draft.

If Pryor had his way, he would still be playing for Ohio State, serving a five-game college suspension that he accepted from coach Jim Tressel. But much changed during the course of a few months.

Let’s recap what’s happened in the time that passed since Pryor elected not to declare for April’s draft (which he was eligible to do because he’s three years removed from high school):

Tressel was forced to resign, Pryor was the subject of additional NCAA and OSU investigations, his new coach Luke Fickell refused to take his calls, and Ohio State ruled him ineligible and ordered him to stay away from the program for five years.

If that doesn’t constitute a change in college eligibility, I’m not sure what does.

The NFL says that it does not want players violate college rules to become ineligible, and then try to get into the league through the backdoor using the supplemental draft. Instead, it would prefer that players fail out of school, then declare for the supplemental draft without any problems, just like Georgia running back Caleb King did this year.

By this ruling, Pryor would have been better served in the NFL’s eyes if he failed all of his classes, causing his academic standing to change. Great message.

Additionally, the ruling shows a stark contrast from the treatment of other NFL players and coaches who have escaped to the professional ranks to avoid punishment from the hands of the NCAA.

Reggie Bush skipped his senior season at USC and picked up a fat payday from the NFL, all while the NCAA continued an investigation into him receiving improper benefits in college. That investigation eventually caused Bush to return the Heisman trophy he won.

USC coach Pete Carroll did the same, leaving to coach the Seattle Seahawks just before the Trojans got hit with devastating sanctions stemming from his tenure at the head of the program. The football program will take years to recover from those punishments. Carroll, meanwhile, has a 5-year NFL coaching deal worth about $35 million.

Just last year, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton skipped his senior year and jumped to the NFL in the middle of the NCAA investigating his father’s pay-to-play scam. His rookie deal is worth about $22 million. It remains to be seen if Auburn will face NCAA sanctions for his actions. If the NCAA finds he accepted money, then fled to the NFL to avoid punishment, shouldn’t the precedence set by the Pryor decision mean that the NFL will hand down a punishment?

And what about all of the former Miami Hurricanes now in the NFL mentioned in the school’s current scandal?

Did the NFL punish any of them? Where’s the consistency?

It’s one thing if the NFL wants to work in cohoots with the NCAA to make amateur rules violations carry over to the professional level. But it’s a dangerous path to start selectively enforcing college regulations, all in the interest of protecting the NCAA beast at the expense of the “student-athlete.”

It seems simple: More followers = larger audience = better reputation = more influence.

But it doesn’t necessarily work that way. What does a follower count really reveal? It’s good for stroking a Twitter user’s ego, but beyond that, the translation of followers to social influence is difficult to quantify.

A user with a large, but inactive following might not have the same influence as someone with far fewer, but more engaging followers.

That’s where Klout steps in.

The website provides social media users with a score that “measures influence based on your ability to drive action.” Klout looks at three factors—true reach, amplification, and your network—to come up with a score that gauges a user’s influence.

Using Klout scores, I have re-ranked the previous list of most followed sports journalists, and the results show a significant difference in their influence, compared just to their following.

Here is the list:

                                                            Klout Score                Follower count

Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter)              89                                885K followers

Darren Rovell (@Darrenrovell)                  83                                110K followers

Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless)             83                                238K followers

Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN)                   83                                251K followers

Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33)                    82                               1.4 million

John Clayton (@ClaytonESPN)                  82                               205K followers

Peter King (@SI_PeterKing)                      80                               605K followers

Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora)      80                              125K follows

Chris Mortensen (@mortreport)                 79                               398K followers

Jay Bilas (@JayBilas)                                79                               140K followers

Trey Wingo (@wingoz)                              78                               450K followers

Keith Law (@keithlaw)                              78                                359K followers

Jay Glazer (@Jay_Glazer)                         78                               170K followers

Jim Rome (@jimrome)                               77                               445K followers

Rich Eisen (@richeisen)                             77                               230K followers

Michael Smith (@MrMichael_Smith)          72                              100K followers

Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason)             72                               94K followers

J.A. Adande (@jadande)                            71                              165K followers

Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon)         70                              165K followers

Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA)     69                               98K followers

Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard)         69                              168K followers

Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz)                    68                            101K followers

A couple points worth noting when looking at each Klout score compared to follower count:

• Football is still king: five of the top 10 Klout scores are from journalists who primarily cover the NFL.
• ESPN is still king: Seven of the top 10 scores are from ESPN personalities.
• Engagement pays: Darren Rovell—possibly the most engaging person on this list—has one of the highest Klout scores, but was near the bottom of this list in terms of followers. That interaction plays key role in his Klout score. Conversely, Chris Broussard and Mike Wilbon aren’t as active as some of the others on the list, and that hurt their scores.
• NBA’s popularity could be hurting: Maybe it’s the off-season or the lockout or another set of circumstances, but I found in interesting that four the country’s elite journalists covering the NBA are all at the bottom of this list.

Television gives journalists national exposure from plenty of eyeballs, and social media allows for them to interact and build relationships with global fanbases. Twitter, specifically, provides some tangible evidence to show who are some of the biggest names is the sports journalism business.

As expected, ESPN ha a healthy dose of on-air personalities topping the Twitter landscape in terms of followers, but the “Worldwide Leader” isn’t the only outlet that features social media darlings.

The other point that is clear when looking through this list: NFL rules the American sports culture.

Here are some of the most followed sports journalists on Twitter:

[ Note: After initially putting out this list, I received some suggestions for names to add. This is the revised list.]

Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33) 1.4 million followers. The blogger turned ESPN columnist, turned author, turned documentary producer, turned occasional color commentator, turned editor-in-chief is the golden boy in terms of his social media prowess. He has more than double the Twitter following of Sarah Palin, and is known for his off-color sports commentary and occasional bashes with Keith Olbermann.

Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) 885K followers. ESPN’s senior football reporter has become one of the premier reporters covering the NFL, often using his Twitter account to break news around the league and offer analysis on various situations.

Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) 605K followers. Sports Illustrated’s senior football writer has adopted Twitter much like he did the longer format of the web to develop his Monday Morning Quarterback column, a weekly must read for football fans. King also regularly interacts with fans and answers questions about various teams or league issues.

Trey Wingo (@wingoz) 450K followers. The host of NFL Live uses his Twitter account to cover the league from a broad perspective. He does a lot of retweeting other ESPN personalities, but also interacts with fans on a regular basis, responding to questions and having a little fun with them.

Jim Rome (@jimrome) 445K followers. He rules the sports radio world and also does just fine for himself on social media. Rome regularly references his Twitter account during radio broadcasts and also often reads tweets sent to him on the air.

Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) 398K followers. Another one of the senior NFL analysts for ESPN is on top of just about every big story around the league, regularly breaking news on contract negotiations, trades and free agent signings. He’ll also entertain questions from fans about their teams.

Keith Law (@keithlaw) 359K followers. The baseball analyst and former MLB team exec writes for ESPN.com, covering baseball from a national perspective. He offers strong analysis and witty remarks, and you’ll also get some occasional tweets on food, literature and culture.

Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) 251K followers. One of ESPN’s top baseball writers has a loyal following on Twitter, and uses it as a way to weigh in a variety of baseball topics, break news and offer some analysis. He also interacts with fans from time to time.

Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) 238K followers. ESPN’s top debater (agitator?) is a compelling voice in the sports world. Although most of his time now is spent taking hard-lined opinions on ESPN’s “First Take,” and calling out Chris Broussard for his affinity with LeBron James, Bayless has a proven track record as a sports journalist and is a strong voice in the media.

Rich Eisen (@richeisen) 230K followers. The main anchor for the NFL Network and former ESPN anchor has a loyal following of football enthusiasts. He tweets about activity around the league, around the NFL Network and links to his podcasts but doesn’t really break news on his Twitter account.

John Clayton (@ClaytonESPN) 205K followers. Clayton was late to the game—joining in July 2011—but his reputation as a NFL reporter and the power of ESPN’s brand sent his account skyrocketing in followers in just a few hours. He has proven to be a quick learner.

Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) 168K followers. Broussard is of ESPN’s NBA writers and an occasional guest on shows like SportsNation or First Take. He is one of the top reporters on the NBA beat, and has some great analysis on the game. He is not one of the more active reporters on Twitter, with only about 1,300 tweets.

Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) 165K followers. The host of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption was also late to join Twitter, but gave in after seeing the role it plays in the sports world today.

Jay Glazer (@Jay_Glazer) 170K followers He is a senior NFL reporter for FoxSports.com and does in-studio work for the NFL Network, and has a reputation of breaking news and offering thoughtful analysis of the game.

J.A. Adande (@jadande) 165K followers. The ESPN.com columnist specializes in NBA writing and west coast commentary. He was a former writer for the LAtimes.com, and has raised his profile over the years by appearing as a regular gust on ESPN’s “Around the Horn.”

Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) 140K followers. The former Duke basketball star and current ESPN college basketball analyst has become a respected voice for college hoops perspective, and also uses his Twitter account to offer opinions on a variety of sports topics. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of his Twitter account is this he follows nobody, and is the only person on this list where that is true.

Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) 125K followers. The NFL Network reporter covers the league from a broad approach, and competes with the country’s other top reporters to break the biggest stories. His Twitter feed keeps avid football fans informed with the happenings across the NFL.

Darren Rovell (@Darrenrovell) 110K followers. CNBC’s sports business reporter has developed and enhanced his reputation and reach through Twitter. His unique stats, nauseating food pictures and spot-on sports biz analysis have made him a must-follow for sports fans.

Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz) 101K followers.  Katz is one of the top college basketball writers in the county, and also works as a college hoops analyst. His profile has grown in recent years, when he’s had the pleasure of chopping it up with President Barack Obama as the Commander in Chief selects his NCAA tournament bracket.

Michael Smith (@MrMichael_Smith) 100K followers. Smith is another one of ESPN’s legion of NFL reporters, and his presence at the station has grown significantly in the last few years. He has gown from a regular on “Around the Horn” to a fill-in host of “NFL Live,” to earning his own show. He uses his Twttier account for thoughts on all kinds of sports—not just the NFL—and to have a little fun with the fans.

Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) 98K followers. YahooSports.com’s lead NBA writer has used Twitter to become one of the quickest to break news of transactions and movement around the league, and he also doesn’t steer away from delivering biting criticism to just about everyone around the NBA.

Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) 94K followers. The FoxSports.com columnist uses Twitter as a way to offer his thoughts on a variety of sports and social issues, share links to his columns, tweet pictures of him at the strip club, and profess his love for HBO’s “The Wire.” Beware: expect plenty of sarcasm from his account.

By no means is this an official list, and I’m sure I could have excluded people. Comment below or message me on Twitter if I left some people off. 

It’s become the popular buzzword in the media business, as journalists young and old work to stay relevant in a challenging and evolving climate. In the past few years, the push from news managers, editors, and professors has been for journalists to view their work as the development of a brand, rather than an endless stream of content.

Establishing that identity can make a journalist’s work become a commodity—a prized and necessary accomplishment in today’s age of rapid publishing.

The topic has been the focal point of lectures, blogs and columns, as journalists debate the goal of turning their craft into a name-driven product.

One of the most outspoken critics to the “branding movement” is longtime journalist and Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten, who recently wrote a column titled “How branding is ruining journalism.” An excerpt read:

 “These are financially troubled times for our profession…and it is disheartening to learn that journalism schools are responding to this challenge by urging their students to market themselves like Cheez Doodles…

“Newspapers used to give readers what we thought they needed. Now, in desperation, we give readers what we think they want. And what we seem to think they want is happy, glitzy, ditzy stuff.”

Weingarten’s column is strongly worded, but his key argument—that establishing a brand comes at the detriment of quality—is misguided.

Who said a journalist’s brand can’t be quality prose? Or gritty investigative work. Or humor writing.

A journalist’s brand becomes whatever he makes its—and that can be “glitzy, ditzy stuff,” or it can be top-flight reporting.

“A growing number of individuals and journalistic enterprises have merged serious reporting with the self-publishing and, yes, self-promoting power of the web to produce high-quality journalism while making names, careers and respectable incomes for themselves,” wrote Alan Mutter, a longtime newspaper executive turned digital media consultant.

In his blog, “Reflection’s of a Newsosaur,” (which has developed a nice brand of its own), Mutter highlights several projects from journalists who produced quality work while also building profitable brands.

The point Mutter makes is that quality and branding are not mutually excusive. You can have both, just as easily as you can have nether.

“Personal branding is about showing your value. It starts with quality and hard work, but if you don’t show the value, you can become undervalued,” wrote Steve Buttry, the Director of Community Engagement & Social Media at the Journal Register Co.

Having that value is the first step. Earning a reputation as the destination for that content comes next.

And that’s how it always has been.

For as long as news organizations have turned a profit, they have targeted audiences with desirable content from journalists deemed to be capable of turning out good work. We now call that branding, and it’s more discussed today because multiple publishing platforms allow anyone to create their own online identity.

But fundamentally, the role of journalists is still to seek truth and share those stories.

We just gave it a fancy new name.