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There’s a collision looming on the horizon of MediaLand – at the intersection of ‘citizen journalism’ and ‘branding’ – and a few recent items in the news bear it out.

As was the case yesterday and will be the case for days, the dominant story by far is the disastrous inferno in Southern California. One million residents are being evacuated for their own safety, and the images from the scene are heart-wrenching and hypnotic – including the videos supplied to media organs by citizens with handheld cameras or cellphones.

This morning on CNN, “CNN Newsroom” anchor Tony Harris showcased some video sent in by viewers – footage that CNN calls “i-reports” – adding “We should say it every time and we do, please, don't put yourself in harm's way to send us i-reports!”

Along similiar lines, the current New York Observer features an interesting sign-of-the-times-type piece about how mainstream reporters – and they don’t get more mainstream than the New York Times-- are trying to establish their names as ‘brands.’

At one time the whole appeal of the life of the young journalist was that you could happily slip into one world, and then slip out into another; to start out writing about the Vatican and find yourself, years later, reviewing restaurants. And if you were good enough, you got yourself a late-career sinecure that was the love of your life. First came the work, then came the brand…

It used to be okay for, say, salespeople or career coaches to establish Me Inc.

But in the past couple years, journalism seems to have steeled its palate for the rotten taste of personal marketing.

So some journalists are self-promoters. This is not news. We media consumers have grown accustomed to the camera-hungry Kent Brockman media types. But what about people who aspire to be journalists? They’re even more desperate for a ‘branding’ opportunity, wherever one might be.

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