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What are you listening to and what do you read to keep you informed in these times of chaos?

Pic from Creative Salon
Rachel O'Connor

10 Apr 2025

I often think it’s tough on those of us working with media for clients, when in the current climate, a consistent and stark piece of advice is to stop consuming the news! This leaves me as an openly addicted news consumer, in conflict, especially when it comes to providing advice for others starting out in our industry.

As PR & comms people, it’s essential to know what is leading, influencing, and driving the news – even if you aren’t placing news stories yourself. All big news stories shape and influence the media we work with on a day-to-day basis, and so actually switching off and not consuming media can be detrimental to your ability to perform your job well. It also conflicts with the need for downtime and how to manage good mental health. This bit causes me some dissonance.


I’ve always said to teams I’ve worked with, and for my own knowledge of current affairs, that it's essential to read and listen to the news and to consume a broad variety of news and views to ensure you can see a story from differing angles and perspectives. And this is important because of course we aren’t targeting ourselves for our clients and therefore the connection to media and their audiences/ subscribers is so important. The challenge with online media and news, is that:

  1. it's constant and is undoubtedly addictive.

  2. the algorithmic nature of targeting and our own consumption is influenced heavily by our own browsing behaviour patterns, and so you are served up some of the same stuff and your breadth of understanding narrows.

  3. there is so much fake news, clickbait, and biased reporting that it's so difficult to know where to point people and who to trust for good sources of balanced reporting.

  4. in asking your teams to remain up to date on industry issues to enable us to guide and  advise clients, it’s challenging not also to add to their already heavily mental health load

  5. and then of course there’s the whole impact of AI and LLM on our work and how information is being served up.


It’s just not as straightforward as it used to be! And yet, knowing your client’s media and knowing what’s going on in their sectors and industry, and how that’s impacting your client’s business, is an essential part of any PR & Comms person’s job.


I was taught to news scan every national, trade, and important news channel for the first hour or two of each day and then send relevant analysis to our clients as an FYI, or with opportunities to leverage a story to their advantage. Those slower days are gone, and so much of this craft and important daily routine has slipped away. Today, with less time and just me, I rely on a few ways to remain up to date and to keep my knowledge where it should be.


I follow a range of international and UK media. I listen to the radio throughout the day, I’m signed up to a few good email newsletters and Substacks, and I make sure to tap into some of the brilliant podcasts that are now around and I rely on a few of these to help guide my own understanding of often complex issues.


 

What am I following, signed up to listening to, and downloading?


For current clients I sign up to their biggest and most influential trade or industry media, and I follow these on Instagram, and Blue Sky I also sign up to their email newsletters and LinkedIn. Additionally, I make sure to follow key journalists and freelancers working for and with these publications.


To keep up with the news:

Everyone is different. I find using Instagram to quickly skim what’s going on a great way to stay ahead. I love the surge of radio and podcasts for more in-depth understanding, and I passionately believe it’s important to consume media that isn’t in your comfort zone.


Whatever you consume, balance it out with an alternative view, or a good dose of more positive views that ensure you know whilst things are tough, there are still a lot of good people, good news, and beautiful happenings to immerse yourself in.

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