The future of our profession

Written by Ella Desewu

On June 22nd, Global women in PR hosted an international panel debate on The future of our profession.

The key themes of this conversation were the rise of AI and decline of journalism.

There were four speakers; Sandrine Cormary, Katie King, Clarissa Haller  and Marina Shilina and the panel chair was Koray Camgoz. The conversation started off with a focus on AI and how it can aid the PR and communications industry as it focuses on specific aspects of an individual and is no longer based on concepts such as just age and gender. AI has the capability to know our names, interests and even our dietary requirements.

There was a strong stance on AI being ‘Augmented’ intelligence rather than ‘Artificial’. “AI can replicate creativity, democratise and flatten the hierarchies that have been established within this industry”. However, AI cannot replicate trust and it will not take over our roles as PR professionals as it cannot display empathy or have a rapport or genuine relationship with an individual which is at the core of what we do.

The panel discussed the recent decline in journalism before the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital news was already on the rise and TV was using 24 hour rolling news channels more often, which, according to the panel, caused a decline in media freedom. A rise in hate speech during the pandemic led to audience realisation of media bias and knowing they were being fed a particular narrative through mainstream media. When AI is used for media, it can be programmed to fuel an existing bias or eradicate biases depending on who programmes it. Social media platforms have now become a source of news and politics as there are multiple views to see and AI shows users content which reflects their own views.

Internal communications has to create a better environment for both employees and their audience as employees are now exposing the gap between a company’s statements and what they have actually been doing. Employees expect the CEOs to be outspoken on certain topics. PR is relevant as we have to direct channels to use to reach the demographics we want to work with and want as clientele. We have to be conscious of the changing media and tech landscape and how it influences the organisations we work with and each other.

“Ethical responsibility has never been greater than it is today.”