FIR Podcast Network

September Circle of Fellows Continues the AI Discussion

Last month, a panel of IABC Fellows shared their observations on the results of a recent AI-focused survey conducted by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (Global Alliance). This month, a fresh panel (with Adrian Cropley returning) will pick up the conversation where the August panel left off, exploring various aspects of the role communication professionals will play as AI continues to evolve, along with the challenges and opportunities it presents to organizations of all kinds.

Joining Adrian and moderator Shel Holtz are Mary Hills, Robin McCasland, and Cyrus Mavalwala. Join us for the broadcast and participate by asking questions and sharing observations using YouTube live chat. If you’re not able to participate in real time, catch the video replay on YouTube or the audio podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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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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