Why comms teams should stop treating creator interviews as earned media

Dami Oyefeso is managind director and founder of Agile PR. 

Last week, a discussion erupted on Substack after a popular creator published an interview with Mark Zuckerberg alongside content featuring Meta’s AI glasses. While some of the conversation focused on the timing of the posts, much of the criticism centered on disclosure and editorial independence. While the creator clarified she wasn’t paid to post about the glasses, readers questioned whether the combination of executive access, product promotion and favorable coverage blurred the line between journalism and influencer marketing. 

This comment on the now-deleted thread sums up the tension perfectly. 

“Thanks for clarifying! To be honest, the timing of posting the glasses on the same day as your interview with Mark and reposting his comms person 🫶’ing your collaboration on Instagram reads very influencer marketing to me. Which is totally fine, it just reframed how I think about your content.” 

Consumers are generally sophisticated enough to recognize paid partnerships. Meta’s campaign already included a traditional paid spokesperson in Kylie Jenner, a relationship audiences readily understand as advertising. The debate centered on a creator relationship that appeared editorial while sharing many characteristics of a brand partnership. As someone who spent over a decade leading communications for technology companies — including serving on Meta’s integrity comms team -– I am less interested in debating whether one creator handled the partnership correctly. Instead, I think this moment should prompt communications professionals to ask whether we’ve outgrown the practice of treating creator interviews as earned media. 

I started working in tech communications over a decade ago at Weber Shandwick. During this time, emerging media was seen as a new and interesting space, rather than part of the core PR strategy. But, along came this new consumer client, OnePlus, a Chinese phone company that was releasing its first model in the US. Securing this client was a game-changer for the team because we needed to have a groundswell approach where the emerging media of YouTubers and tech reviewers were critical to this rollout being successful. We expanded our media list to include new media and shipped phones for review under embargo. Today, that’s a pretty standard rollout for consumer tech, but in 2016 this was a new frontier for traditional PR. 

In the early 2010s, creators were rightly seen as earned media because in exchange for a review, the creator got access to the phone before it was released to the general market. There was no access to the CEO and an executive interview was not expected. The CEO’s time during a product launch was reserved for top-tier business and tech press, along with prepping for any in-person remarks. Content creators were used to seed the product, not as a vehicle for thought-leadership. 

Over time, executive access was no longer just a journalistic privilege—it has become a campaign asset. Today, creator engagement is still often categorized as earned media, but the nature of that engagement has fundamentally changed. Creators aren’t simply reviewing products; they’re increasingly given executive access, coordinated messaging, exclusive interviews, and gifted products to share with their audiences. At that point, we’re no longer talking about traditional media relations. We’re talking about a hybrid that communications teams have been slow to define.

Executive access has become a form of compensation. We’re not just seeing this in tech, but also other industries like entertainment. But, the stakes with emerging tech are much greater than in other industries. For controversial technologies, avoiding mainstream media because of difficult questions is ultimately a disservice to both the product and the public. Tough questions improve products, clarify messaging, and build trust. Communications professionals shouldn’t fear scrutiny — we should prepare our executives for it.

For creators, these arrangements also deserve greater discernment. If a brand is offering executive access, exclusive content, product seeding, and distribution opportunities, that relationship has evolved beyond a traditional media opportunity into a partnership. Creators shouldn’t hesitate to negotiate compensation for the value they’re providing —and brands shouldn’t hesitate to disclose those partnerships clearly. The sooner communications teams acknowledge that distinction, the better equipped we’ll be to protect creators, preserve journalistic integrity, and build lasting trust with audiences.