FIR Podcast Network

IABC Fellows Explore AI and the Leadership Moment for The Communication Profession

Episode 132 of IABC’s Circle of Fellows examines what the newly released Reimagining Tomorrow 2026 report from the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management means for the profession. The report surveyed 536 communication professionals across six global regions and found a profession that has embraced AI in practice but not yet claimed AI governance in leadership: 95.9% of organizations now permit AI, yet only 8.6% have communication professionals leading the formal governance structure. One in four organizations discloses AI use to no one at all.

Joining moderator Shel Holtz are Bonnie Caver and Adrian Cropley OAM, both Global Alliance board directors and the research partners behind the survey, along with Theomary Karamanis and Mike Klein. Together, they dig into what the data means for the profession, what it will take to move from adoption to accountability, and what it takes to be a leader in the AI era.
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Coming Up on Circle of Fellows: The Evolving Media Landscape and the Value of Ethical Journalism

Local newsrooms keep shrinking, journalism schools keep closing their doors, and the reporters who remain are stretched thinner than ever. For organizational communicators, that shift changes the math on media relations. It’s no longer enough to know how to write a pitch. You need to understand who’s left to receive it, what standards still govern their work, and how to build the kind of relationship that gets your story told well instead of not at all.

Circle of Fellows #131 will feature four IABC Fellows with deep backgrounds in journalism and media relations. Moderated by Shel Holtz, SCMP, the panel will discuss what’s changed in the newsroom, what hasn’t, and what it means for the way communicators do their jobs.

The panel will dig into what that means day to day for communicators, including:

Thinking local and strategic. Where does your story actually need to go, and which relationships and networks get it there?
Knowing journalistic standards and principles (JSPs). Understanding what reporters can and can’t do — and where the real limits are — makes for smarter pitches and fewer frustrated calls.
Respecting deadlines and information needs. How communicators and journalists can work together, rather than at cross purposes, to produce the stories both sides actually want.
Getting to know the people in your “journalism ‘hood.” In a shrunken media landscape, personal relationships with the reporters who remain matter more than ever.

Join us for this hour-long conversation, live on Thursday, July 23, at noon ET. You’ll be able to ask questions and share your own experiences with the panel in real time. Can’t make it live? The video replay and audio podcast will be available afterward.

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Meet IABC’s 2026 Class of Fellows on June 25

Circle of Fellows will depart from the discussion of communication issues, as we do once each year, to introduce IABC’s newest Fellows. Five new communicators join the Fellows community in 2026, spanning the globe from Canada (from which three of our Fellows hail) to South Africa and Australia.

To accommodate time zones, two Circle of Fellows episodes will air on June 25. Part 1, at noon EDT, will feature Brad Whitworth moderating a discussion with André Oberholzer, SCMP, FCSCE, Cyrus Mavalwala, IABC Fellow, ABC, MC, and Diana Degan, IABC Fellow, ABC, CAAP, BAAJ. Then, at 6 p.m. EDT, Shel Holtz will host a conversation with Catherine Ducharme, IABC Fellow, PCC, CLC, and Sia Papageorgiou, IABC Fellow, FRSA, FCSCE, SCMP.

Join the discussion by watching the live streams on YouTube, where you can share observations and ask questions. If you are unable to join us live, you’ll have access to a video replay on YouTube, or the audio podcasts here on the FIR Podcast Network.
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