What you describe is very much a thing. Variations of the basic concept exist under terms like "advertorial", "sponsored content", and "native advertising". At

What you describe is very much a thing. Variations of the basic concept exist under terms like "advertorial", "sponsored content", and "native advertising". At HuffPost, where I work, we have something called Partner Studio [1] [2], where people in our organization will produce such content for brands. Companies also often use PR firms to generate and pitch stories for journalists. It's pretty common for PR firms to hire journalists. [1] http://digiday.com/publishers/huffington-post-branded-conten/ http://digiday.com/publishers/huffington-post-branded-conten... [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/sponsored-content/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/sponsored-content/