The Wall Street Journal reports that CNN is creating an in-house studio that will produce news-like content on behalf of advertisers.

A new unit called "Courageous," made up of journalists, filmmakers and designers, will fashion and distribute “branded content” across CNN’s TV and internet platforms.

According to Otto Bell, the lead of the studio and former creative director at Ogilvy Entertainment, the idea is to work more closely with companies to highlight things that may have news value, such as the building of a manufacturing plant or a philanthropic effort. Bell said that his team would be staffed with “folks who have journalistic instincts” who would go into a company and “find that newsworthy element and extract that.”

More and more media companies are investing in such units that create advertiser content to help boost revenue, including other news companies from the New York Times to BuzzFeed to The Wall Street Journal.

This raises questions about blurring the line between the editorial and business sides of a company. But Dan Riess, executive vice president of integrated marketing and branded content at Turner Broadcasting, which owns CNN, said,

This isn’t about confusing editorial with advertising. This is about telling advertisers’ stories — telling similar stories but clearly labeling that and differentiating that.

Riess said CNN’s reputation for news "trustworthiness" would make Courageous attractive to advertisers.

After all, he says, “This is CNN. We’re not here to blur the lines."