Blog Posts - Vuelio

How real-time broadcast and podcast monitoring redefines Public Affairs strategy

July 9, 2026/0 Comments/in Politics, PR, Communications, Public Affairs Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

In the fast-moving world of UK Public Affairs, timing is everything. A single comment made during a select committee hearing, a breaking news interview on morning television, or a candid revelation on a political podcast can reshape policy debates, pivot stakeholder agendas, and shift public opinion in a matter of minutes. For Public Affairs teams, policy professionals, and campaigners, staying ahead of these shifts requires awareness of the full political landscape.

Yet, traditional methods of political monitoring are increasingly struggling to keep pace in this environment. Relying on siloed tracking tools, manual reviews, and waiting hours for official written records means Public Affairs teams are often reacting to news that has already evolved. Today’s fast-moving ecosystem demands a live, omnichannel solution that delivers immediate visibility across all media types.

Recognising these challenges, Vuelio has revamped its comprehensive suite for public affairs, introducing real-time broadcast and podcast monitoring capabilities. By breaking down the walls between media intelligence and political insights, these updates ensure you never miss the critical conversations shaping the legislative agenda.

The power of an integrated strategy

Historically, public affairs and media relations often functioned in isolation; one team tracking legislation and stakeholder engagement, and another managing press coverage and public relations.

Today’s political and media landscapes are deeply symbiotic. Media coverage directly drives parliamentary debate, and parliamentary proceedings instantly fuel the 24-hour news cycle. If your political monitoring doesn’t automatically connect with your media monitoring, you are only seeing half the picture. An integrated approach ensures that organisations see the full scope of an issue as it unfolds.

Vuelio’s updated suite solves this by offering a fully connected platform designed to act not just as a means of capturing coverage and insight, but as a centralised corporate memory. By blending political intelligence, media monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and audience insights into a single, user-friendly dashboard, Public Affairs teams can track multiple channels, functions, and metrics simultaneously. Organisations to build more cohesive, agile, and impactful campaigns that resonate both inside Westminster and across wider public discourse.

Real-time broadcast monitoring: Moving beyond Hansard

One of the most significant advancements in Vuelio’s revamped suite is the introduction of real-time broadcast monitoring, specifically tailored to the high-stakes needs of public affairs professionals.

Are you missing the key parliamentary conversations that are shaping policy right now? In a fast-paced crisis or during a crucial legislative vote, delays can mean the difference between actively shaping the narrative and being left out of the conversation entirely. With multiple parliamentary committees sitting at the same time, it is physically impossible for teams to watch every stream manually.

Vuelio’s live omnichannel solution monitors Parliament Live TV continuously, delivering instant alerts for keyword mentions alongside concise summaries of what is happening live on the floor or in committee rooms. These can be sent straight to your inbox, and are also available directly in-platform.

Whether it’s an unexpected amendment proposal, a direct mention of your organisation, or a shift in tone from a key minister, you are notified the moment it happens. Public Affairs teams can immediately brief stakeholders, draft reactive statements, or adjust lobbying strategies in real time. Beyond parliamentary coverage, Vuelio’s broader broadcast monitoring captures comprehensive TV and radio across national and regional stations, granting vital visibility over the political audio-visual landscape.

Why podcast monitoring is central to modern campaigning

While television and radio remain vital pillars of broadcast media, the digital audio ecosystem has expanded dramatically. Over the last few years, political podcasts have transitioned from niche commentary into a dominant force in UK political discourse. Shows like The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, and Political Currency have gone beyond reacting to the news, to actively setting the political agenda. Meanwhile, smaller, independent shows capture emerging or niche perspectives, broadcasting them to concentrated, loyal audiences.

Podcasts have become the new public square where politicians trial policy ideas, journalists break insider insights, and key opinion leaders shape public sentiment in a relaxed (and relatable), long-form format. For public affairs and communications teams planning campaigns for 2026 and beyond, ignoring this medium is risky.

Former No.10 Press Secretary and The Rest is Politics Presenter Alastair Campbell outlined the growing influence of podcasts in Vuelio’s webinar with the Institute for Government ‘The Trump challenge: Chaos, confusion and government communications’:

Vuelio has made advanced podcast monitoring central to its campaign planning tools. Using speech-to-text technology, the platform tracks thousands of podcast episodes for specific keywords, brand mentions, and policy topics.

Instead of manually listening to hours of audio content, public affairs professionals receive automated alerts and transcripts when their areas of interest are discussed. Identify emerging risks, discover new political allies, track competitor activity, and understand the deeper nuances of political debates before they hit the mainstream press. Proactively tracking these audio channels allows you to intercept narratives early and align your messaging with the conversations driving the political zeitgeist.

A comprehensive, future-proof solution

The political and media landscapes will always remain in a state of constant flux, with patterns of influence continuously reshaping themselves. To successfully navigate this environment, public affairs teams need tools that are as agile and interconnected as the world they monitor.

With over thirty years of experience supporting policy professionals, campaigners, and stakeholder engagement teams, Vuelio’s updated suite is designed for today’s challenges. Backed by the global expertise of the Pulsar Group and fully accredited for data security (including ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials, and GDPR compliance), Vuelio delivers a trusted, robust, and holistic view of the political landscape.

By combining real-time broadcast alerts from Parliament Live TV with deep-dive podcast monitoring and media insights, Vuelio ensures your organisation is informed, prepared, and ahead of the conversation.

Ready to transform your political monitoring strategy? Find out more about Vuelio’s live omnichannel solutions and discover how real-time insights can empower your team: Explore Vuelio’s Political Monitoring solutions.

Andy Burnham’s path to Westminster: Inside the inner circle

July 7, 2026/0 Comments/in Politics, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database, Political Monitoring Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

The UK political landscape continues to evolve at a fast pace, and a figure commanding high speculative attention at the moment is potential future leader Andy Burnham. Widely dubbed the ‘King of the North’, the Greater Manchester Mayor’s national ambitions have long been a subject of intense scrutiny across Westminster and the wider public affairs sector.

For the lowdown on the individuals advising and anchoring a potential Burnham administration, the Vuelio Political Team has compiled an exclusive, comprehensive downloadable guide: ‘Speculation Doc: Burnham’s Inner Circle – Rumoured Advisers’.

What is included

Vuelio’s in-house political analysts have mapped out the key figures across four critical pillars of a potential Burnham operation:

Operational: Discover the strategists tipped to lead transition planning and Whitehall operations. The briefing covers James Purnell, the reported chief of staff and Blairite moderniser tasked with reassuring business and utility investors, alongside Kevin Lee, Burnham’s long-serving “right-hand man” and operational architect.

It also highlights Baroness Sue Gray’s behind-the-scenes advisory role on Downing Street’s configuration, Caroline Simpson’s potential elevation to a ‘No. 10 North’ deputy chief of staff role, transport specialist Tom Whitney, and Manchester Deputy Mayor Kate Green, who is reportedly liaising with MPs.

Economic: Gain insights into how ‘Manchesterism’ could scale nationally. We profile blue-chip economic heavyweights like Lord Jim O’Neill, who advocates for substantial infrastructure borrowing, and former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane, who brings market credibility alongside regional growth instincts. It also looks at the technical expertise of former OBR chair Richard Hughes, GMCA strategy director John Wrathmell, and soft-left strategist Lord Stewart Wood.

Policy: Understand the ideological currents shaping future governance. Read about tech and AI policy expert Josh Simons (former MP for Makerfield), Compass director Neal Lawson, whose advocacy for proportional representation and cross-party cooperation could prove crucial in a hung-parliament scenario, and Common Wealth founder Mathew Lawrence, who provides an eco-socialist framework for public ownership.

Communications: See who will be projecting the message. Find out more about Grace Pritchard, the head of communications seconded from Ed Miliband’s team, international communications specialist Donjeta Miftari, and digital strategist Abby Tomlinson, the platform-savvy creator of ‘Milifandom’.

Stay ahead of the political curve

This downloadable intelligence briefing gives you the precise institutional insights required to understand how a future Burnham government could function, what fiscal rules it would navigate, and what to expect from its communications.

Don’t wait for the Westminster system to shift – download the full Vuelio Speculation Document on Andy Burnham’s Inner Circle to ensure your public affairs strategy is fully prepared for what comes next.

Factoring AI, fragmentation, and uncertainty into your comms strategy

July 6, 2026/0 Comments/in PR, Communications, Media Lumina, Media Database, Media Monitoring, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

With AI now integrated into the very fabric of the media and informational landscape, the rules of PR and corporate communications are being rewritten. But are traditional PR skills a thing of the past?

To unpack what is changing in comms and what will endure in this AI-enabled era, Vuelio hosted an expert panel discussion.

‘How to Factor AI, Fragmentation, and Uncertainty Into Your Comms Strategy’, hosted by Vuelio’s Head of Content Marketing Alex Bryson, brought together three industry leaders, each offering a distinct perspective on the evolving requirements of the profession. Pearson‘s Director of Financial Communications Laura Ewart, who brings 20 years of experience in financial, corporate, and executive communications, provided a practitioner’s lens on the pressures of modern, high-stakes environments. Diego Bironzo, a Vice President at Edelman Intelligence, offered deep experience in navigating reputation management and trust in the wake of crises, providing a strategic view on how brands can maintain authority in an AI-mediated world. Representing the measurement and intelligence side, Amy Chappell, Head of Insights Strategy at Vuelio, joined the conversation to share findings from our curated media analysis and observations from her breadth of experience in the PR and media landscape.

Is AI an accelerant, rather than a paradigm shift?

While AI is often discussed as a revolutionary force, the panel noted that its primary immediate impact has been to intensify existing trends.

‘My view is that AI, at least at the moment, is not so much a paradigm change when it comes to comms, but an accelerant,’ said Diego.

‘This technology has accelerated some of the shifts we’ve been seeing for a number of years as digital became more prominent… including speeding up story cycles and fragmenting audiences. As a result, increasingly, we’re also seeing the effects of “context collapse”: the messages that, for my grandparents’ generation, would have been mediated by mass media, now are appearing completely unmediated, distributed across platforms to various audiences, traveling in unexpected ways.’

Amy explored how AI is changing the way people access information and form opinions about organisations. While reputation has always been influenced by a mix of media coverage, expert commentary, and stakeholder discussion, AI platforms are increasingly becoming another route through which people discover and evaluate information.

Amy examined the role of AI and LLMs as a mediator for messaging and the news cycle:

‘Using Vuelio’s AI View tool, it’s possible to look into citations of organisations mentioned across the major LLM platforms. In this example, one thing that stands out is the different sources that are feeding the LLMs – earned media overwhelmingly dominates AI citations.

‘AI and LLM platforms, seemingly, at least in this sector, aren’t just looking for the most recent coverage. In this example, we found that LLMs weren’t looking for the most recent; it was a combination. A crisis that happens one week doesn’t automatically affect how LLMs cite organisations the next.’

Amy found that the sources feeding into the supermarket citations were mainly trade titles – The Grocer, the Grocery Gazette, for example. For each new story, or campaign, traditional ‘Tier 1’ titles aren’t automatically going to be the first port of call for LLMs.

‘Clear messaging and spokespeople are still so important to have. So, if Tesco or Sainsbury’s continue to target those types of publications that are feeding the LLMs at the moment, that may have a positive impact on their reputation in the future.’

The emergence of AI as a stakeholder

One of the most significant shifts identified by a growing number of PR practitioners is AI’s active participation in the information ecosystem as a stakeholder.

‘Increasingly, what we’re seeing is AI ultimately being another audience,’ said Amy. ‘In terms of what LLMs are serving about organisations, it’s almost another consumer base.’

Diego expanded on the implications for brand management: ‘I like the idea of treating AI as an additional audience, a stakeholder, because LLMs play a role in mediating your message, adding a layer of interpretation before your content is served up to audiences. As a consequence, perceptions can be shaped from a number of different signals, and these are increasingly harder to keep control of.’

But this doesn’t just have an impact on brand reputation – Laura emphasised the financial implications:

‘AI is an audience as well as a tool, especially in financial comms, where investors are using AI to synthesise lots of data. You’ve also got AI bots, which are automatically trading without humans in the loop – so you need to think of it as an audience when you’re putting your press releases and your content together.’

The strategic necessity of human authenticity

As AI platforms become central to how information is served, the demand for high-quality, authentic human content has increased. When audiences and algorithms alike are flooded with synthetic noise, trust becomes a primary differentiator.

‘Over the past year, there has been a growing expectation upon PRs to use AI in their everyday comms, but it’s not just about knowing how to prompt an AI, it’s also about how to use your critical thinking and judgment to know how and why you’re going to be using AI,’ Laura said.

Where critical thinking is needed, and PRs luckily have this in their wheelhouse already, is in channel selection.

‘For actually getting cut through, we’re finding the best things to do are op-eds, comment pieces, and podcasts. People are looking for voices they can trust and which they feel are authentic, and I think that’s why we’ve seen the rise of the podcast.’

Diego echoed this focus on the human element, noting that earned media has become ‘more relevant than ever’ because of the way it feeds into AI search and interpretation:

‘Increasingly, an authentic and culturally relevant message is becoming more and more important, and that’s the kind of content that people are going to want to see. It needs to be both informed by data and insights as well as have that “human in the loop” touch for authenticity and empathy.’

Practical Integration

As organisations look to position themselves within this new infrastructure, the panel stressed the importance of factoring Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) into strategies.

Regarding how to appear in AI search results, Laura advised a long-term approach:

‘Think about how you can tailor your content to adjust for AI search – there’s lots of different tips and tricks that we’re learning as we go along. For example, LLMs draw from FAQs a lot, so that’s something to think about for website content.’

Diego added that this requires consistent monitoring:

‘People are at the stage of establishing a baseline of where they appear in searches on GEO, being mindful of the fact that answer engines are highly dynamic and constantly changing. It’s important to start understanding what is the baseline, what behaviors and sources shape answers, and think about how it impacts strategy, how we can start to feed the right type of content to LLMs.’

The Future of the Profession

Ultimately, the consensus among the panelists was that AI will not replace the PR professional, but rather demand a more sophisticated, intelligence-led approach to strategy.

Amy summarised the outlook:

‘I’m a big advocate in thinking that AI has actually increased and enhanced the role of the PR. Human skills are going to be increasingly important. It’s still about trust, so getting out there, meeting with journalists, and building relationships with them will continue to be really key.’

As the industry moves through these stages of maturity, from narrative stewardship to influence intelligence, successful comms teams will be those that treat AI as a central stakeholder, prioritise evidence-led communication, and double down on the human connection that algorithms cannot replicate (for now…).

Find out how LLMs are representing your brand and clients in their answers with Vuelio’s AI View.

For more on how AI is changing the way we communicate, check out key insights from our previous Vuelio panel event with Purposeful Relations’ Stuart Bruce, the British Heart Foundation’s Nicole Yost, and JournalismAI’s Tshepo Tshabalala.

Navigating today’s interconnected landscape: Introducing Vuelio’s revamped suite for Public Affairs

June 25, 2026/0 Comments/in Politics, Public Affairs Political Monitoring, Public Sector, Political Services, PR, Political Database Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

In an environment where policy and campaign issues traverse multiple channels simultaneously, every single touchpoint alters the message. Vuelio understands the importance of evolving to meet this modern multichannel challenge, which is why we have revamped our product suite for public affairs.

Adding to over thirty years of experience partnering with public affairs professionals, policy teams, and campaigners, additions to Vuelio’s integrated platform supports teams tasked with turning communication challenges into strategic clarity.

The power of a unified ecosystem: Why integration matters

In today’s fast-moving environment, tracking the media and political landscape using disjointed, siloed tools will mean missed insights. Audiences are increasingly fragmented, and lines of influence intersect in ways they never have before. A single message can prompt a cascade of media requests, social media posts, parliamentary questions, and stakeholder feedback. Without a unified platform, teams can spend hours trying to connect these disparate data points.

Vuelio’s revamped suite resolves this complexity by serving as a comprehensive corporate memory and single source of truth. It functions seamlessly across a number of core pillars to deliver actionable insights directly into your workflow.

Core pillars of Vuelio for Public Affairs

1. Advanced Political Monitoring

Our updated Political Monitoring service offers deep, real-time tracking across the entire legislative spectrum. We monitor Westminster alongside the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Greater London Assembly. Coverage includes daily schedules, active debates, tabled questions, committee proceedings, and votes.

Beyond central government, the tool extends to regional government consultations, council press releases, and announcements from think tanks, charities, and trade unions. To help you catch key commentary before it hits official channels, the service automatically tracks the social media accounts of political figures and the top 50 political journalists.

2. Live Broadcast Monitoring

Waiting for official parliamentary transcripts can put your organisation on the back foot. Vuelio’s revamped Broadcast Monitoring ensures you receive instant alerts on what is happening on Parliament Live TV, straight to your inbox and in-platform. Mentions and context summaries are delivered as they are broadcast, complete with analytics for instant trend analysis. For specialised campaigns requiring deeper evaluation, our in-house experts are available to build bespoke reports.

3. Comprehensive Podcast Monitoring

Podcasts have emerged as an incredibly influential medium for political discourse, with parliamentarians and key stakeholders regularly appearing as guests or engaging as listeners. To give you complete oversight of the conversations shaping public opinion, Vuelio now actively monitors high-profile and niche political podcasts within our platform suite. This includes news-making programs such as The Rest is Politics, The News Agents, Newscast, and Electoral Dysfunction.

4. A carefully curated Contacts Database

At the heart of the platform is a verified Political Database containing over 55,000 detailed profiles. Maintained by our policy team, it includes:

Parliamentary Contacts (7,000+): Detailed profiles for elected officials across all UK Parliaments, Assemblies, and the EU. Profiles include contact details, political/educational backgrounds, committee memberships, staff details, and Special Advisers.

Civil Service (30,000+): A broad set of civil servant officer contacts from central government, local government, regulators, and arms-length bodies.

Local Government (19,000+): Elected councillors, council leadership, and key council officer roles.
The system also allows you to add private stakeholder contacts with custom categorisations while remaining completely GDPR compliant.

5. Specialised policy expertise

We understand that software is only as powerful as the human intelligence backing it. Vuelio provides access to an in-house team of policy researchers with deep sector specialisms.

As part of the service, you can opt to receive exclusive scheduled publications tailored to your needs:

Horizon Scanning Planners: Including the Parliamentary Planner (covering APPGs) on Thursdays, followed by the Devolved Planner and Sector-Specific Horizon Scans on Fridays.

Daily Briefings: Westminster Daily, Devolved Daily, and Today’s Political Headlines delivered every morning.

Set Piece & Weekly Updates: Full analysis and stakeholder reactions to events like the King’s Speech or the Budget, alongside researcher summaries and transcripts of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) every Wednesday.

6. Stakeholder Management & Engagement Tracking

Our fully integrated Stakeholder Relationship Management (SRM) system allows teams to track, log, and analyse outreach efforts collectively. No two stakeholders are identical, which is why our system provides customized stakeholder mapping, custom user-defined fields, and a clear Red/Amber/Green status system to evaluate relationships.

Built-in distribution tools allow you to send branded, personalised emails directly from the platform using asset libraries. You can then evaluate individual engagement using time and date-stamped interaction statistics, making it easy to see who opened your correspondence and instantly generate targeted follow-up lists.

Ready to transform your Public Affairs strategy?

The policy environment is too fast and interconnected to navigate with siloed data. Vuelio combines cutting-edge multi-channel monitoring, a massive verified contact database, and dedicated human expertise into a single source of truth.

Explore the next generation of public affairs technology. Trial our services to experience how integrated intelligence can elevate your influence.

Media interview with Reach plc’s Executive Editor of the local democracy reporting service Rob Parsons

June 24, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, Politics, PR, Media, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database, Press and Bloggers, Political Monitoring, Public Sector Blog Posts /by Andrew Strutt

Political journalists, especially at a local level, are facing an increasing amount of challenges – from being denied entry to council meetings, to facing abuse online. Someone that has seen how the media industry has changed over the years is Rob Parsons, Reach plc‘s Executive Editor of the local democracy reporting service.

Rob started out as a reporter on The Sentinel in Stoke and moved into covering local politics back in 2017 as political editor at The Yorkshire Post. Since September 2025, he has been overseeing the local democracy reporting service at Reach plc and is responsible for promoting the work of the 83 journalists that work on the scheme.

We caught up with Rob to reflect on how the changing political landscape is affecting the work of local journalists, the importance of both podcasts and newsletters as a way to connect with audiences and what PRs and comms professionals should be aware of when trying to engage the media and get coverage.

How is the political landscape changing with the emergence of new media formats and social platforms, and how does this impact your work?

I’d say a major change in the past two decades is the decline in trust in big institutions (and in politicians more widely) as well as the huge increase in tribalism, much of which has been sped up by the rise in social media. A growing proportion of voters – though certainly not all – now get their news solely from partisan sources and aren’t exposed to anything that challenges their beliefs, making it harder to establish an uncontested truth about big issues that everyone can agree on.

So much more of political journalism now happens in the online world rather than face-to-face, whether it’s through WhatsApp becoming the primary tool of communication between journalists and their sources or politicians using platforms like X to cynically weaponise news stories for their own advantage. Sadly, a lot more journalists now face hostility for trying to do their job, particularly women, which is why Reach plc has recruited the industry’s first ever Online Safety Editor, Rebecca Whittington, to help guide and support our journalists to navigate the online world.

But despite all that, there remain lots of political journalists at local level doing what they’ve always done – diligently reporting on issues in their communities and trying their best to scrutinise the leaders who make important decisions.

That’s why I think the Local Democracy Reporting Service – which I help oversee in my role as executive editor at Reach Plc – provides such a vital service in holding to account elected politicians on councils and mayoral authorities up and down the country. The scheme is funded by the BBC, though individual LDRs are managed in local commercial newsrooms – many run by Reach plc like the Manchester Evening News – and its reporters approach their work with the aim of providing balanced, impartial coverage of the issues that matter locally.

Political podcasts are now incredibly influential – why do you think that is?

I’d say a large part of it comes down to trust, as per the previous answer. Despite rising concerns about news avoidance, there’s still a huge number of people looking to make sense of what’s happening in the world or domestically in a way they can trust.

Podcasts like The Rest Is Politics and The News Agents are trusted by listeners as they would a smart friend, bypassing the skepticism often applied to newspaper columnists or TV anchors.

And they’re available in a way that allows listeners to enjoy them at a time or setting that suits them, for example while on a run or while doing the dishes. That’s when I listen to most of my podcasts! And because they feature contributors who’ve spent their careers at the front line of UK politics they offer the allure of pulling back the curtain on how power actually works, free from the constraints of having to toe a party line or adhere to the strict broadcast impartiality rules that govern the BBC or Sky News.

One interesting side-note is that many of the most successful podcasts can reach an audience who don’t have the time or attention to listen to a whole episode, through judicious use of social media clips to highlight the most engaging sections. Funny or insightful clips from a particular podcast can do huge business on social media, which is great for boosting the name recognition of a product and hopefully encourage listeners to try the podcast on a more regular basis.

During your career, you’ve covered general news reporting, crime reporting and of course political reporting – how does the latter differ and what should PRs be aware of when reaching out?

I consider myself a bit unfortunate that I became a crime reporter in 2013, not long after the Leveson Inquiry into the ethics of the media, which resulted in police officers being much less willing to speak to journalists. I’d heard stories of detectives sharing exclusives with reporters at the pub, but because of the new climate where officers were reluctant to engage with the media without a press officer present, that happened a lot less often than I’d hoped! Generally police press offices try to keep as tight a lid on the flow of information as possible, though I was still able to develop my own sources for stories during my four years as Crime Correspondent for The Yorkshire Post.

Unfortunately, the breakdown of healthy relations between the media and police resulted in instances of damaging rumours and speculation emerging on particularly big stories, like the Nicola Bulley disappearance in Lancashire where an absence of information from the police created a vacuum exploited by bad faith actors and armchair detectives.

The political world, by contrast, is much more gossipy and any political journalist worth their salt will have a phone full of useful contacts who can tell them what’s going on. The challenge for a political journalist is trying to identify the most trustworthy sources and get a sense of why elected politicians would be motivated to tell you a particular piece of information.

It’s also much harder for press offices to control the way stories are told in the political world, which I think is why politicians often use social media to directly present their side of the story to the public and avoid scrutiny.

Previously you worked as Northern Agenda editor overseeing the daily newsletter, how important are newsletters in journalism as a way to reach audiences?

The great advantage of newsletters is similar to that of podcasts, they’re a trusted source of information and analysis that readers rely on to make sense of what’s going on in the world. It’s not always easy to earn a place in someone’s inbox with so many other emails vying for your attention, but if a newsletter can achieve trusted status because of the quality of the journalism it provides, it can build a loyal relationship between the reader and the journalist.

Reach has invested heavily in newsletters in recent years, including titles like The Northern Agenda, as a way of bypassing the volatility of platforms like Google or Facebook which in recent years have chosen to deprioritise news on their algorithms.

When editing The Northern Agenda, I put a particular effort into trying to make the newsletter personal – e.g. having the sender as ‘Rob Parsons’ and trying to make the writing very much in my own style – as there’s a lot of evidence that readers respond better to a product that is from a person they know and trust, rather than a brand.

There have been issues recently with journalists getting access to local councillors, how much of an impact does this have on LDRs doing their jobs and what changes can be made to fix this?

This issue isn’t entirely new. Back in 2022, Reach’s titles in Bristol rallied the wider journalistic community behind them when former Bristol Mayor, Marvin Rees, excluded two Reach-employed LDRs, Alex Seabrook and Adam Postans, from his fortnightly mayoral press briefings. The LDRs had challenged the mayor over the potential hypocrisy of flying 4,900 miles to Vancouver to deliver a 14-minute TED talk on climate change.

But a major challenge for local political reporters in 2026 is adapting to the new political reality where the old two or three-party system has now been replaced by a much more unpredictable and volatile climate, as the Green Party and Reform UK make massive gains. The emergence of Reform UK as a major political force has meant our LDRs are now increasingly dealing with councillors and council leaders with little experience of dealing with the media and who are hostile towards us, often refusing to engage or trying to delegitimise our reporting.

That trend became very evident in Nottinghamshire, where the Reform-run county council effectively banned the Nottingham Post and its Local Democracy Reporters from receiving press releases, attending events, and speaking with the council leader before later bowing to pressure and reversing the move. But it’s something we’re seeing examples of in a lot of town halls and will likely only increase as Reform gain a greater foothold on other authorities in upcoming local elections.

The approach of the Nottingham Post and its editor Natalie Fahy to the ban exemplified how best to respond in situations like this, robustly and vocally standing up for our right to report on public authorities without fear or favour while at the same time taking every possible step to build a working relationship with elected political leaders. I was reassured by the widespread support the Nottingham Post got from the wider media industry and also politicians from across the political spectrum, who recognise the important part an independent media play in our democratic process.

Get in touch with journalists covering UK politics via the Vuelio Media Database, and find out more about Vuelio’s solutions for Public Affairs here.

The King of the North Eyes Number 10: Andy Burnham briefing

June 22, 2026/0 Comments/in Politics, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database, Political Monitoring Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Following Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that he will resign as Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister, MP for Makerfield Andy Burnham has confirmed he will put himself forward as a leadership candidate.

For Burnham’s background, his policy positions, as well as the potential figures of influence in a Burnham administration, download the briefing from the Vuelio Political team by completing the form below.

From Westminster to Manchester, and Back Again

Once a quintessential Westminster insider, serving in the Cabinets of both Blair and Brown, Burnham famously left Parliament in 2017 to build a regional powerhouse as the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

His high-profile battles with Whitehall over pandemic funding and his launch of the publicly controlled Bee Network transport system solidified his reputation as the ‘King of the North’. Now, having recently returned to the Commons as the MP for Makerfield, he is pitching himself as the radical remedy to a Westminster in turmoil.

The Core Pillars of ‘Manchesterism’

Often described by critics as a political chameleon, Burnham’s current vision, frequently dubbed ‘Manchesterism’, calls for a structural overhaul of the UK economy. He has openly criticised the deindustrialisation and privatisation of the last forty years, advocating instead for a ‘productive state’.

Key policy areas analysed in our full briefing include:

Taxation and the Economy: While Burnham has sought to reassure jittery gilt markets by committing to fiscal rules, his clean slate allows him to explore radical wealth taxes, equalising capital gains with income tax, and raising the top income tax rate to 50%.

Renationalisation: Prioritising water and energy, Burnham points to his Manchester transport reforms as the blueprint for national public ownership.

Housing First: Championing a permanent housing guarantee for the homeless without preconditions, alongside rent controls and a shift of infrastructure funds toward social housing.

Rewiring Westminster: A staunch advocate for electoral reform, Burnham is calling for the abolition of the House of Lords in favour of an elected Senate of Nations and Regions, alongside the introduction of proportional representation.

Stay Ahead of the Labour Leadership Race

As the battle for the future of the Labour Party begins, understanding the frontrunner’s policy shifts, union affiliations, and key personnel is vital for any public affairs strategy. Get your copy of the Vuelio Political Briefing on Andy Burnham by filling in the form below.

Health in Focus: The Health Bill and high hopes for James Murray

June 11, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, Politics, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database Blog Posts /by Aidan Stansbury

With all eyes on Makerfield, and Andy Burnham’s projected (as per recent polling) election to Parliament, former Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been trying his hardest to get the spotlight back on him; a task he found easy from the backrooms of No. 10.

Over the last couple of weeks, he has floated, and also committed, to several new policies on the EU, capital gains tax, national insurance cuts, and bringing back Sure Start. He has also accompanied this with insight on the operation of No.10, including what he saw as a cover up of Israeli war crimes in the cabinet, and his belief that current Prime Minister Keir Starmer is a fundamentally unpolitical person who will be the ‘midwife’ to 1930s-style nationalism. It is no secret that Streeting has been a dissenting voice and on the move for some time, and, despite his poor backing among Labour members, the relentless No.10 briefings against him have seemed to spur him on to challenge for the top office in the near future.

On reflection on his time in post, Streeting said that he had put the NHS ‘on the road to recovery’. In closing, he uttered the words of Dame Deborah James, who said: ‘take risks; love deeply; have no regrets; and always, always have rebellious hope.’ The use of the words ‘take risks’ will likely raise eyebrows among critics of the Government, as Streeting was far from an insurgent and radical reformer to the health and social care space. Where he said he would calm woes with the BMA, he was seemingly left flustered, where he could have taken strong stances on prostate cancer or mental health, he seemingly faltered, and when it came to his most expansive programme, the NHS Modernisation Bill, he left on the day it was tabled to Parliament. Of course, there have been some improvements, and notable statistics to reel off in Reeves’ next economy speech, but Streeting failed to stay in post long enough to forge evidence of radical improvements.

Streeting has, in many ways, escaped the full weight of Opposition scrutiny, less through his own deft politics than through the vacuum around him. The Conservatives, haunted by their own record on the NHS, have shown little appetite for confrontation, while Reform UK lacks even a ‘shadow’ health minister to mount a challenge. Criticism has instead come from the left, centring on his private healthcare ties, his sign-off on the Palantir contract, and legislation that drew legal challenge for introducing political interference into the independent workings of NICE.

His tenure has been defined by caution dressed up as ambition. The plan he inherited and shaped leaned heavily on a generous Spending Review settlement, front-loaded with reviews and personal political posturing. With nearly every health commitment from Labour’s manifesto set in motion or delivered, Streeting has achieved reasonable results and modest outcomes, but this is not the ‘radical transformation’ that was promised under his tenure. Where matching his ambition and taking radical action was possible, Streeting chose process, elongated plans, long-winded reviews and ambiguous strategies, many of which he will not be in post to implement, let alone see through to their conclusion.

His replacement, James Murray, could be termed by outsiders as the quintessential career politician. A PPE graduate from Oxford, former adviser to a senior politician and a previous Whip. Before his recent promotion, he served as the most senior junior minister in Government, as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Like Streeting, Murray has a personal history with the NHS, and used this to corner his first speech as Health Secretary, being diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis in the 2000s, a neurological condition for which he received successful treatment. One of Murray’s first actions as Health Secretary was to get around the table with the BMA Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) to converse over new strike details. Murray has previously been described as a surprisingly fierce negotiator behind closed doors when overseeing London’s affordable homes programme. Yet this saw no impact as the BMA were swift to announce strikes in the middle of June. In a sense of deja-vu, Murray took to the Department of Health and Social Care’s X account to call the strikes ‘unnecessary’, outlining that the Government was not in the position to move any more on pay. The RDC has accused the new health secretary of the same level of ‘intransigence and vagueness’ as Streeting, and it looks like Murray has started as he means to go on.

In his new post, Murray will likely bring a strong focus on public finances, given his background in the Treasury, as well as a strong relationship with Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Speaking to the Institute for Government in April, Murray was laser-focused on the benefits of AI to leverage productivity in the public sector, and described the public sector as culturally risk-averse in an age of innovation. He said he wants to move beyond simple time-saving AI tools and instead look at automating or removing entire processes, and critically, to think about it from the patient’s perspective. He also was explicit that conflating capital investment in the NHS and the transformation fund was a mistake, and that previous governments raiding capital budgets for short-term savings is precisely what created the maintenance backlogs the NHS now faces. Streeting had begun to make some early steps on AI and innovation, including through ambient voice technology, research and medical technology. With a cross-party and Whitehall diagnosis of an overly bureaucratic and a labyrinthine system, radical steps on AI should be welcome and pursued by Murray as they can be the catalyst to radically transform the NHS. Whereas, simply pouring more funding into outdated, sluggish, and inefficient legacy IT systems will yield only small and ephemeral rewards.

The issue of modernisation has been a key point of contention for the Health Bill, also known as the NHS Modernisation Bill, tabled to Parliament last month. The Single Patient Record set out in the Bill has been described by Murray as a policy that could ‘save lives’, cutting out administrative burdens for staff and improving patient experience in tandem. However, as previously seen in failing IT programmes, the challenge of implementing policy on complex IT systems has often been underestimated, as has the scale of investment required. This remains a key question for the Bill, and as outlined by the Health Foundation, its implementation must marry a few key concerns: a fragmented Electronic Patient Record system, low public trust alongside growing concerns over external providers of data platforms, and the specific benefits that the SPR will reveal, beyond the ambiguity of ‘saving lives’. It is vital the NHS moves away from consistent and laborious messaging over waiting lists, staff numbers and investment figures, towards a coalesced image of how modernisation in the NHS will actually improve patient experience, beyond numbers on a spreadsheet. The Single Patient Record can be a positive start to this.

The Nuffield Trust has raised caution to the ‘powerful arsenal’ of responsibilities and powers moved to the Secretary of State in the Bill, specifically where it relates to the directing of local health boards. While previously the Secretary of State could only previously direct ICBs relating to public health functions, now, and as set out by Clause 8 of the Bill, the Secretary of State will have the power to direct ICBs to ‘any health service function’. While the Bill seeks to move away from a fragmented and rigid system, it may do so by centralising power politically. Defining accountability is an important measure, but legislators of the Bill must be sure that the Secretary of State’s increasing involvement in the non-political running of the health service, whether that is functions of the soon-to-be defunct NHS England or powers to intervene in NICE’s assessment of medicines, does not lead to micro-management, overarching political intervention and unstable governance from the top. Fundamentally, there is a reason that the billion pound ordeal of NHS England was institutionalised in the first place: to mandate an objective view of healthcare, overseeing commissioning, services and operational independence. The Bill must not risk intervening in this through the backdoor, on the pretext of accountability and modernisation.

Another key contention point of the Bill is the scrapping of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body and Healthwatch, with the former merged into Care Quality Commission and the latter into the Department of Health and Social Care. These changes are prefaced by the Dash Review, which found a crowded and complex patient safety landscape, and will look to ‘streamline, simplify and consolidate functions’ where considerable duplication and overlap currently exist. This section of the Bill aims to achieve a more transparent system by ensuring those responsible for shaping services are directly responsible for gathering patient and user views, and clearly accountable for embedding them into strategic planning. These two decisions have been criticised by stakeholders for reducing transparency and accountability, and, again, moving more power centrally to Whitehall. Opposition has also been political, with the Liberal Democrats saying the move will strip patients of an independent voice, while the Conservatives have said the centralisation of powers will lead to a democratic deficit and discourage whistleblowers. The CQC has also warned against this change, outlining, in submitted committee evidence, that they have not identified a ‘valid operational solution’ that resolves the conflict of interest of protecting the ‘safe space’ between the functions of each quango.

James Murray will have a distinct job on his hands, as a loyalist, a strong ally of Reeves, and in turn Starmer, he may be more of a seasonal worker, if Burnham (or others) get their hands on No. 10. With investigations into maternity, social care, mental health and ADHD approaching publication in the near future, the Department of Health and Social Care needs stability to make reform happen to the NHS, and do so radically, to reveal the benefits of a truly modernised NHS.

World Cup info, weather-related experts, and gardening gurus: How to get UK press coverage in June 2026

June 11, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR Press and Bloggers, Journalist Enquiry Service, Media Database, PR Blog Posts /by Andrew Strutt

With a big summer of sport ahead and a packed political calendar across the globe, journalists and broadcasters will be busy and in need of case studies, expert comment, and more from the PR and comms sector. To help with your media outreach, here is insight on what they’ll need based on media requests from the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service (now included in the Vuelio platform).

World Cup fever

The FIFA World Cup kicks off on Thursday and journalists have been trying to get ahead with their coverage as 1.5% of the requests in May featured the keyphrase ‘World Cup’. Around 1% of these also contained the keyword ‘football’ as the Women’s Cricket World Cup also begins this week on Friday.

Enquiries have been looking at various angles when it comes to World Cup coverage including England/Scotland fans prepping for the World Cup and flexi working companies, money saving tips for those planning to travel out there for it, and the rarest and most valuable World Cup football shirts. These requests have come from journalists at BBC News, The Sun, Insider Sport and Which? Money.

Going forward? With this being the longest World Cup in terms of schedule and amount of matches, journalists will be looking for plenty of insight throughout June and into July when the tournament eventually finishes. Locations to watch the matches, case studies of fan experiences and football experts are the most likely to be in demand and could get you featured in both broadcast media and national press.

Weather forecast looking popular

The common stereotype is that Brits are obsessed with talking about the weather and in May that was the case with journalists using the service. Just under 2% of the requests last month contained ‘weather’ in them. ‘Heatwave’ cropped up in 1% as well, as the sudden summer sunshine got everyone talking.

Publications including The i paper, Ideal Home, Daily Star, woman & home, and PA Media all sent weather-related requests last month. These included changes to make now to improve your sleep in warm weather, an expert to comment on the link between stormy weather and neurological conditions, and a nutritionist to give advice on the best and worst things to eat and drink during a heatwave.

Going forward? While the British weather may not be predictable, we can predict more weather-related requests this month, based on the fact that just over 2% of requests in June last year focused on this. Enquiries tend to focus on experts, but these can often be associated with other topics such as health and gardening, rather than purely on weather conditions themselves.

Gardening gurus in demand

Gardening as a keyword always performs on the Journalist Enquiry Service throughout the year and last month was no different as it cropped up in 4% of the total. This also coincided with the Home & Garden category being the third most popular on the service, behind Health and Women’s Interest & Beauty.

Enquiries are mainly looking for experts, but these are still for a variety of topics and last month that included sustainable garden ideas, the best shrubs to give your garden a hotel look, rainwater harvesting, and how to protect gardens from plant thieves. Journalists at House Beautiful, Country Living, Amateur Gardening, The Daily Mirror, and The London Standard all sent an enquiry in May.

Going forward? In June 2025, gardening was even more popular as a keyword when it appeared in over 6% of the total requests. We expect to see a similar volume of requests for June this year. While experts are the most in demand from journalists, there will also be opportunities to get garden products featured too and hopefully get coverage in a consumer media title.

Other opportunities for PRs in June and beyond

Travel, like gardening, is another keyword that does well throughout the year but with the summer holidays in sight then June often sees it reach its peak. Last year, 6% of the total enquiries featured ‘travel’ in them. 3% also contained ‘holidays’ and ‘hotel’ also appeared in just over 3%. From expert comment on the top holiday destinations for 2026 to case studies of nightmare weekend getaways, there will be plenty of media opportunities for those in the travel sector to get featured.

While the schools don’t break up till mid-July, journalists will already be looking for back-to-school information from this month onwards. In June 2025, 2% of the enquiries that month featured ‘school’ as a keyword. These vary from looking for information on new clothes and stationary for the next school year to expert advice for parents who will be sending their kids off to primary school for the first time or moving onto secondary school. Have expert comment and information ready if you want to secure national press coverage.

Want to get the most out of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service? Find out how here.

Perfect pitch: Maximising media coverage with Vuelio’s connected platform

May 28, 2026/0 Comments/in PR, Communications, Media Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers, Journalist Enquiry Service Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service, which has been connecting PR & comms teams seeking media coverage with journalists and broadcasters in need of sources since its launch in 2001.

To meet the changing needs of the media community, the service is now integrated into Vuelio, providing the thousands of PR and comms teams using the platform daily with another way to reach the press.

Whether you’re looking for expert commentary, supporting statistics, products for review, or filming locations, our connected network helps you share relevant responses with influential media contacts.

Here are just some of the benefits of a fully-connected media suite:

Jump on opportunities, without losing the strategic view

Part of managing a busy press office is balancing the short-term urgency of media deadlines with the longer-term planning often required for a successful comms campaign. PR professionals spend hours building targeted media lists, studying forward features lists, and conceptualising campaigns for future roll-out. But breaking news doesn’t stop for strategic planning.

When short-turnaround editorial opportunities arise, disjointed workflows and platforms can mean missing windows of opportunity. By combining real-time journalist requests with a comprehensive Media Database in one place, communication teams can keep an eye on a stream of editorial asks directly from the workspace where they are already designing their outreach campaigns.

While you are proactively identifying long-lead opportunities or constructing media lists for a future launch, you are presented with an instant view of what reporters are investigating.

Because media professionals frequently operate under intense time constraints, often requiring commentary, case studies, or information within a matter of hours, having these urgent alerts integrated into your main platform ensures your entire team can respond quickly.

Fulfill a writer’s immediate request without losing momentum on your broader campaign strategy, or juggling multiple browser tabs and separate software programs. Secure high-value placements that might otherwise have slipped away.

The ability to connect relevant spokespeople with the right media

Securing impactful media coverage means providing the precise expertise a writer or broadcaster needs to complete their story.

The integration of the Journalist Enquiry Service within the Vuelio platform makes matching internal corporate talent or client spokespeople with these precise needs straightforward. Rather than researching which topics are currently front-of-mind for various media outlets, PR professionals receive verified requests that outline exactly what kind of expert opinion is required.

The platform’s filtering framework, spanning industry sectors including healthcare, finance, consumer technology, and retail, enables PRs to filter incoming requests down to the specific categories that matter most to their organisation or client base. Instead of scrambling to find an angle, immediately identify an exact match between a journalist’s requirement and your spokesperson’s specialised knowledge.

Deeper insight, for longer relationships

If you ask media professionals about their biggest frustrations when dealing with the public relations industry, the answer is almost unanimous: irrelevant, untargeted pitches. To stand out in the clutter of a packed inbox or voicemail, a pitch must be hyper-relevant. But achieving that level of personalisation and targeting requires deep contextual knowledge.

This is where an embedded Media Database is essential. When a request from the Journalist Enquiry Service arrives within the platform, it is linked to a wealth of intelligence regarding the individual who sent it, and the publications they work for. With a click, PR professionals can find a comprehensive profile of the journalist, offering detailed insights compiled by our in-house research team.

Patch, past coverage history, preferred communication methods, and even career history can be invaluable, particularly when a journalist’s initial enquiry is brief or ambiguous. By analysing their specific beat and recent articles, read between the lines of a vague request to understand the angle they are pursuing. Tailor your response to align with their editorial style and the demographic of their media outlet: providing a tailored, highly specific contribution significantly increases the likelihood of your content being picked up. More importantly, it demonstrates to the journalist that you respect their time and understand their audience, laying the vital foundation for a trusting, ongoing media relationship that extends far beyond a single news cycle.

Closer connections with the media, via a connected platform

The future of successful public relations relies on breaking down the barriers between different communication workflows as much as it does on connecting the myriad of platforms that make up the modern media landscape. Moving away from separated software systems and adopting a unified ecosystem allows communication professionals to work with greater speed, accuracy, and strategic insight.

By integrating the real-time opportunities of the Journalist Enquiry Service into the extensive data suite of the Vuelio Media Database, PR professionals are given a complete toolkit for modern media engagement. React to urgent newsroom demands without sacrificing long-term campaign planning, match expertise with active editorial needs, and utilise deep media intelligence to construct your pitches, and build connections.

Find out more about the Journalist Enquiry Service here.

Introducing Lumina AI View: AI Visibility Built for PR & Comms

May 21, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Communications, Media Lumina Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

There is a new frontier where public perception is shaped: Large Language Models. Right now, LLMs are answering critical questions about your organisation. What are they saying? And more importantly, which sources are shaping those answers?

To navigate this landscape, public relations professionals don’t need generic tools, but rather technology that speaks their language, and addresses the realities of a changed media and informational landscape.

That is why we’re unveiling Lumina AI View, the latest addition to our intelligent suite of AI tools from Vuelio. Trained specifically on the workflows and challenges of modern PR & communications, Lumina AI View helps you understand exactly what AI knows about you, and how it learned it.

A new standard for AI visibility

AI View tracks your citation strength and source quality alongside those of your competitors, giving you a clear view of where you hold authority and where you have gaps.

Lumina AI View maps your AI reputation from the ground up, allowing you to:

See which sources matter: When tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini discuss your organisation, which outlets do they cite? Track your source footprint over time and view the impact of key target media on how you’re discussed. We measure your citation strength and source quality alongside those of competitors, giving you a clear view of where you have authority and where you have gaps.
Gain industry-specific insight: Your competitors get cited from Financial Times and Bloomberg. You get cited on Reddit. Each brings opportunity – and risk. Discover how you measure up against industry standards, and target the sources that actually influence how AI represents you.
Catch narrative shifts early: AI responses change when new sources appear, sentiment shifts, or old controversies resurface. Get alerts when citation patterns change suddenly, before they impact the way you’re perceived by stakeholders.

Measure your progress: From media monitoring to full media intelligence

Lumina AI View is built on the principle that insights get stronger with repeated measurement. To help you maintain a clear view of your reputation, our proprietary scoring system provides regular updates that show you:

Evolving trends in how sources cite your organisation
Competitive standing and benchmark metrics
Where models differ in information presented, and sources cited

Whether you run it weekly, on-demand, or whenever you need a check-in, patterns will emerge, trends will become clear, and you will build a baseline that makes any sudden narrative changes both comprehensible and the prerequisite to action.

Lumina AI View is part of Lumina AI, a comprehensive suite of AI tools built specifically for communicators. Our Lumina suite evolves traditional media monitoring into narrative intelligence, enabling you to truly understand how perceptions form, evolve, and impact your reputation.

Get in touch to register your interest and see what Lumina AI View can do for you.

Is earned media the solution for comms in the age of AI Answers?

May 18, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Communications, Media PR, Press and Bloggers, Lumina, Media Database, Media Monitoring Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Artificial intelligence has evolved from an experimental tech-stack tool to become a vital part of the fabric of daily reality for public relations. Alongside pitching stories for human-made editorial calendars, comms practitioners are navigating a deeply fragmented media ecosystem where generative engines like Large Language Models (LLMs) fundamentally alter how information is created, distributed, and consumed.

For years, the PR industry measured success by the strength of a clipping or the positioning of a link on a Google Search results page. Today, the interface between brands and audiences has changed. The fast rise of agentic browsers and AI companions that summarise the web has boosted media intelligence from a supporting function to a mission-critical part of the comms infrastructure.

To survive in this new reality, communication teams must understand the new role of earned media; the primary fuel powering the AI answer engines that shape brand reputation.

How generative engines are rewriting the search playbook

The traditional digital marketing funnel is facing an existential crunch. According to Nic Newman’s ‘Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2026‘ report for the Reuters Institute, publishers expect traffic from search engines to decline by 43% over the next three years. This sharp downturn follows recent dramatic declines in referrals from social media platforms. The culprit at the centre of this disruption? Google’s AI Overviews.

Now appearing at the top of roughly 10% of search results in the United States and rolling out globally, these AI summaries have driven a massive surge in zero-click searches — scenarios where users get their answers directly on the search page without ever clicking through to a corporate website or news source.

This shift is heavily driven by changing consumer behaviours. Data from a January 2026 study ‘Navigating the Shift: A Comparative Analysis of Web Search and Generative AI Response Generation‘ highlights that Google’s AI Overviews now reach 2 billion monthly users across 200 countries, with referral traffic from AI platforms growing by 357% year-over-year. Crucially, the way people search has evolved: 57.9% of searches triggering AI Overviews are now phrased as full questions, and queries of eight words or longer have a 57% probability of generating an AI-synthesised response rather than a traditional list of blue links.

These platforms do not return ranked document lists but synthesise answers, reason over retrieved evidence, and selectively cite sources they judge to be authoritative. And what these engines consider authoritative is, increasingly, earned media.

A 2025 Semrush AI Overviews Study revealed that while Google attempts a balanced sourcing approach (41% earned, 34% social, and 26% brand content), standalone AI engines lean overwhelmingly on earned content. Anthropic’s Claude concentrates most heavily on earned media at 65% (and a mere 1% on social), followed by OpenAI’s GPT-4o at 57% earned media.

To highlight this trend further, Gartner’s ‘Top Predictions to Inform 2026 Comms Strategies‘ and Purposeful Relations’ ‘The Impact of Generative Relations and Communications‘ reports both validate that AI search engines heavily favour citing earned, shared, and organic owned content over paid channels. More than 95% of links cited within these platforms are non-paid mentions, with earned media accounting for 89% of those citations. Journalistic content alone accounts for 27% of citations, skyrocketing to 49% for queries requiring real-time, recent information.

Ultimately, LLMs rely on the credibility that traditional PR has spent decades cultivating. However, simply securing a mention is no longer enough. As Nicole Yost, Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) pointed out during Vuelio’s recent in-person event ‘How AI is changing the way we communicate‘, the challenge has evolved. Managing communications for a major healthcare charity means navigating an environment where AI is used not just to draft messaging, but to predict trends and actively counter misinformation. Nicole observes:

‘Various studies have shown that AI is using earned media for its content. But how do you differentiate and cut through the noise, is the question. Earned media is having a moment. I was talking to some colleagues earlier, and they’re saying it’s everywhere, all over LinkedIn, it’s “PRs’ time” and all that. But, only if you can cut through the noise, be really trusted and credible, are you going to have an impact on your brand.’

Making your earned media count for LLMs

While the data paints a glowing picture for the resurgence of PR, communications teams must avoid treating these statistics as a one-size-fits-all victory. Context, nuance, and strategy matter more than raw volume.

Stuart Bruce, PR Futurist and Co-founder of Purposeful Relations — a management consultancy specialising in advising in-house comms teams, international bodies like the OECD, and charities on AI adoption — urges a grounded perspective.

Reflecting on the sudden flood of vendor reports, Stuart notes:

‘All these reports that have been coming out say that LLMs favour earned media in terms of where they get information from, and where they put their citations. That’s partially true.

‘Our white paper analysed the multitude of reports that have been published throughout the year (anybody that’s selling an LLM tool published a report to justify them to marketing). One said that 95% of LLM citations are from earned media. Another one said 43%. And yes, the importance of earned media is absolutely on the rise, but it’s really important to realise it’s not the only one, and it is very different between different sectors.’

To make earned media truly count within AI summaries, communications strategies must move past old-school broad message distribution. The focus must pivot toward building earned proof, shaping the credible, factual raw material that both human audiences and intelligent machine agents use to determine who is genuinely trustworthy.

A strategic roadmap for modern PR: Treating AI as a stakeholder

If LLMs are actively mediating how the public understands your organisation or your clients, you can no longer treat them as neutral tech tools; they are actually a brand-new audience. Stuart suggests a distinct shift in how teams approach Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), breaking it down into three flexible, strategic pillars tailored to organisational needs:

1. Build an AI Stakeholder Map

‘The first thing you need to do is to actually understand the space,’ Stuart advises. ‘We describe AI as a stakeholder, because we wouldn’t start trying to influence stakeholders until we fully understand them.

‘Do you have your stakeholder map? Trying to create that is actually really difficult when it comes to LLMs, because there are several of them, and then they’re all going to be saying different things.’

Comms teams must map which models their audiences use and audit how their brand currently surfaces across different engines.

2. Constant recency and the power of niche media

LLMs possess vast amounts of historical data within their static models, but when a user asks a time-sensitive question, the engine must look outward for real-time information. ‘So, if you want to influence what’s not in the model, they’re going to be looking for really up-to-date, recent information — you’re constantly feeding the beast and making sure that your information out there is recent,’ says Stuart.

This will markedly change media targeting strategy:

‘The second thing to consider is, what does that mean? Does that include your website? That might mean just refreshing a page, updating a page, but also things like labelling if a page has out-of-date information. AI needs to be taught that. It needs to understand relevance, and that’s basically where earned media comes in. It’s not necessarily going to be your tier-one titles. It could actually be small, niche titles. It could be trade press. It could be expert blogs. And that’s because LLMs know that’s a specialist source, this is going to be where to find reliable information.’

3. Establish multiple touchpoints for reputation

An isolated piece of coverage will no longer be effective on its own. AI models look for cross-referenced consistency across the web to validate a claim. Stuart provides a practical example:

‘You might have a spokesperson featured in the Daily Mail, but if that’s the only reference to them, AI is not necessarily going to consider them a credible spokesperson. If they were available on your website, if their LinkedIn profile constantly talks about the same thing, if they’ve spoken at conferences, if they’re in earned media, they instantly become a credible source. You’ve got to have those multiple touchpoints.’

Shifting trust: When audiences believe AI over brands

The urgency of this strategic pivot becomes clearer when considering how rapidly public trust is transitioning. During a recent Vuelio webinar ‘AI as the new PR & comms stakeholder‘, Dr Anne Gregory — Professor Emeritus of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield and a leading international researcher who has directed the Global Capability Framework — highlighted how deeply this machine mediation influences public perception:

‘AI is much more than just an assistant; it is a powerful actor in the information ecosystem.

‘It mediates our engagement with organisations and individuals, and evidence is emerging that AI is often believed more than other traditional sources.’

This observation is backed by hard data. Purposeful Relations’ report, in partnership with 72Point, surveyed 5,000 UK adults to uncover modern attitudes toward media, news, and generative tech. The findings regarding trust were eye-opening: While scientists and technical experts predictably ranked highest at 80%, AI answers achieved a 44% trust rating.

‘So 44% of people trust that LLM answer: they’re not necessarily going to go to your website,’ Stuart noted.

This creates a reputational hazard if your infrastructure is lagging. Dr Anne issued a stark warning for teams slow to adapt to this shift:

‘Even though we know these summaries are often incomplete and biased, we tend to believe them. If we don’t regard AI as an influential stakeholder, we could be putting ourselves in jeopardy.’

The new toolkit for AI visibility

To transition from traditional communicators into central corporate strategists who manage reputation in this new climate, PR professionals need tools built specifically for their workflows. They cannot rely on legacy search engine tools designed purely for digital marketing or paid media.

‘Vuelio is launching something soon, which will be another tool that will help you to understand that,’ revealed Stuart during our latest event.

‘The tools that are coming from the PR space are a lot more useful to PR people than some of the ones that are coming from the digital marketing and the search space. They understand the pressures, the trends, the type of information that we need to know.’

This targeted innovation underpins Vuelio, providing an AI Visibility solution that’s specifically geared towards PR & Comms.

Lumina AI View helps you understand what AI knows about you, and where it learned it from. By tracking the sources that models such as Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude cite when representing you, it reveals where you stand — and how to impact this.

The battleground for brand relevance has officially shifted. By ensuring your earned media strategy is continuous, highly credible, and verified across multiple digital touchpoints, you can ensure your organisation, and the clients you work with, are not just indexed by the algorithms, but trusted by them.

Find out more about Vuelio’s Lumina solutions here.

Media trends from May from the Journalist Enquiry Service

Summer in focus, wellness experts and Father’s Day gift ideas: How to get UK press coverage in May 2026

May 14, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Communications, Media PR, Press and Bloggers, Journalist Enquiry Service, Media Database, Media Analysis Blog Posts /by Andrew Strutt

In a busy and constantly changing news cycle, knowing what to pitch when can be difficult. The ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service (also now part of the Vuelio platform too) gets hundreds of journalists using it each month looking for experts, case studies and more. To help with your media outreach, here is what the media were searching for in April and how you can secure coverage in May and beyond.

Summer in sight

Journalists, especially those that work on consumer and trade magazines, often look to get their content well in advance of publication and that’s why one of the main keywords for April was ‘summer’. Nearly 7% of the total requests this month contained ‘summer’, despite the change of season still being a month or so away.

It’s a pretty broad topic and requests varied from looking for luxury UK summer spa packages, to advice on how Britons can keep their gardens from drying out, as well as healthy recipes and a medical expert to speak about hay fever and summer cold symptoms. Journalists have sent requests from outlets such as Ideal Home, Capital FM, The Caterer, Newsweek, HELLO! Fashion, and The Times.

Going forward? The amount of summer-related requests will only continue to rise in May and beyond and last year over 7% of all requests included ‘summer’ in them. The focus from journalists tends to be more on topics such as gardening, travel, fashion, beauty, and food & drink but there should be plenty of opportunities to hook onto a news story.

Health & wellness experts in demand

It’s currently Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK and journalists have already been keen to not only cover ‘mental health’ but also ‘wellness’ too. ‘Mental health’ cropped up in 1.5% of all requests in April and ‘wellness’ appeared in just over 2%.

Both of these topics are regularly sought out by journalists on the service and last month wellness requests included looking for an expert in advertising/marketing in the health/wellness medical space and wellness retreats that fit into the ‘quietcation’ holiday trend. While mental health enquiries included asks for information on mental health support for retail staffers and a psychologist or therapist to talk about loneliness.

Going forward? Personal health and wellness is normally in demand around this time of year, and in May 2025, ‘wellness’ appeared in 2.5% of the total requests. This remains a priority topic for journalists this year and they tend to focus on getting experts to share their tips and advice. Make sure yours are ready to provide comment and you could feature in Psychologies, PA Media, Men’s Health, Red magazine, or Conde Nast Traveller, as they all sent enquiries last month.

Gift guide items needed for Father’s Day

It’s still over a month until Father’s Day in the UK (21 June) but journalists have already been sending in plenty of requests around the celebration. 2% of all enquiries in April were for ‘Father’s Day’ and categories like Men’s Interest and Consumer Technology performed well as a result of this.

The majority of requests are for products to feature in a gift guide but there is some variety in here with journalists looking for everything from gadgets and tech, to grooming products and food and drink. There are also several enquiries seeking experiences including travel and family days out and wine/whisky experiences. Bella, Great British Food, Travel & Retreat, woman & home, and Dadsnet all sent requests last month.

Going forward? The number of enquiries around Father’s Day will only rise this month – in May 2025, it cropped up in nearly 3% of the total requests. This is a great opportunity to get products featured in consumer media titles or share information about experiences or days out.

Other opportunities for PRs in May and beyond

The FIFA World Cup is now less than a month away from starting but journalists have already been keen to cover this football extravaganza with just over 1% of enquiries in April featuring ‘world cup’. Enquiries so far have ranged from looking into the financial situation behind the ticket prices to wanting information about the best places to watch the tournament at. If you’ve got football experts or former players, there is a good chance of media coverage in the lead up to the World Cup.

It’s not quite festival season yet but again, the media have been looking to get ahead of this and last month around 1% of the enquiries contained the keyword ‘festival’ in them. This is likely to ramp up in May (in May 2025, ‘festival’ cropped up in 2% of the total enquiries) as the first few music festivals and events take place. Journalists tend to look for products to review as festival essentials and accessories so have these ready to send out and you could get featured in a national media title.

Want to get the most out of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service? Find out how here.

PR opportunities on the Vuelio Media Database

PR opportunities for media outreach: Updates on Vuelio for May

May 13, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Communications, Media Media Analysis, PR, Press and Bloggers, Journalist Enquiry Service, Media Database Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Welcome to the May edition of our regular deep dive into what’s happening on the Vuelio platform. Here is everything you need to know about the latest Media Database enhancements, media moves, and the editorial trends currently dominating the Journalist Enquiry Service…

Extra outreach opportunities on the Vuelio Media Database

The Vuelio Research team’s commitment to data hygiene and expansion remains the backbone of the platform. In May, we saw substantial activity across both global and domestic markets.

Global outreach at a glance

8,246 global contacts added.
2,407 UK contacts updated for total accuracy.
601 new outlet news feeds mapped.
1,195,845 total media outlets now live on the platform.

Top growing international markets

Our Researchers have been busy verifying outlets across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. If you are planning international campaigns, take note of the growth in these key territories:

United States: +1,389 outlets
Italy: +575 outlets
South Korea: +525 outlets
France: +445 outlets
Brazil: +355 outlets

UK database spotlight

Within the UK, we have created 804 new positions and updated 2,157 existing roles. This includes a healthy mix of sectors:

National Press: 195 new roles; 469 updated.
Regional/Local Press: 100 new roles; 415 updated.
Magazines: 111 new roles; 348 updated.
Broadcast: 54 new roles; 407 updated.
Freelance: 45 new specialists added.

Project spotlight: National Press enrichment

The headline news for May is the completion of a National Press enrichment project, focusing on contacts and opportunities for PRs. We know that for many of our users, the national newsrooms are the holy grail of coverage; this project was specifically designed to bolster our coverage of the UK’s most commercially significant titles, ensuring that when you search our platform, you’re met with verified, high-value journalist data.

Alongside this, we’ve continued our global maintenance to ensure your international outreach remains as precise as your local campaigns.

We have added over 180 verified journalist contacts across high-profile national outlets, including:

The Times & Sunday Times
The Guardian & Observer
Daily Mail & Daily Mail Online
The Daily Telegraph
Financial Times
The Independent
Sky News
Associated Press

This ongoing commitment to national press enrichments means the platform will reflect newsroom reshuffles, new columnists, and beat changes at pace, giving you a distinct advantage in your outreach.

What journalists want now: Trends and insights

The Journalist Enquiry Service processed around 2,000 media requests in May, with consumer media leading the charge. If you’re looking for a hook for your next pitch, these are the themes currently filling up journalists’ news and features:

1. Summer lifestyle and travel planning

Journalists are already commissioning heavily for the summer holidays. We are seeing a high volume of requests for outdoor activities, seasonal lifestyle features, and travel advice.

If you have travel clients or outdoor products, the time to pitch is now.

2. Home and spring refresh

The Home category on the Journalist Enquiry Service remains a core editorial pillar. Requests are focused on interior design, cleaning hacks, and practical home improvement.

3. AI & digital transformation

In the B2B and tech space, AI has moved beyond a niche topic to the mainstream. We are seeing constant requests for expert commentary on how AI is impacting the workplace and specific industry sectors, so get your pitches ready to send to journalists writing about this.

AI is also impacting PR and comms – don’t forget to catch up with our latest Vuelio webinar ‘AI as the new PR and comms stakeholder‘.

4. Health, wellness & outdoor fitness

As the weather improves in the UK (we hope…), editorial focus has shifted toward running, seasonal health trends, and manageable wellness routines.

Industry news: People on the move in the media

Keeping track of who is sitting in the editor’s chair is vital for successful media relations. Here are some significant moves from the last month:

BBC Radio 2: Sara Cox has been announced as the host of the weekday Breakfast Show (6:30–9:30 am), launching this summer.
ASOS: Jazmin Duribe has been promoted to Senior Editorial Manager. She is particularly interested in hearing about exhibitions, films, TV, and fashion news for their culture roundups.
The Guardian: Micha Frazer-Carroll joins as Assistant Editor and writer of The Long Wave newsletter. Her focus is on international Black stories across politics, arts, and lifestyle.
Family Traveller: Harriet Mallinson is the new Editor of Familytraveller.com. She is looking for family-friendly events, products, and media stays worldwide.

Want more media moves as they happen? Sign up to our weekly Media Bulletin for updates.

Industry Challenges

On broader shifts in the media landscape, announcements of job cuts and restructures at Bauer Media Group and the BBC, and Ian Katz (Chief Content Officer at Channel 4) set to step down this autumn underlines how a live platform is more effective than static media lists. As newsrooms consolidate, knowing exactly who is still on each journalist beat is paramount.

Proactive planning: May action plan for PRs

To make the most of these updates within the platform, we recommend the following steps for your May outreach:

Refresh your National media lists: With over 180 new contacts added in the Enrichment Project, your existing lists for The Times or The Telegraph may be out of date. Re-run your searches to find new targets.
Leverage summer media request leads: Align your experts with the demand for Summer lifestyle-related contributions. If you have a spokesperson who can talk about outdoor wellbeing or seasonal travel, get them in front of the journalists currently using the Journalist Enquiry Service. Requests to PRs are now directly flowing through into the Vuelio platform, giving you more opportunities to get in touch and connect with journalists.
Explore international markets: If your brand has a presence in Italy or South Korea, now is the time to explore our expanded database in those regions.

The media landscape is moving faster than ever, but with the right intelligence, those shifts become opportunities rather than obstacles. Ensure you are utilising the latest verified data on the platform to make your next campaign your most successful yet.

Health in Focus: Tobacco and Vapes Act & Devolved Elections

May 12, 2026/0 Comments/in Politics, PR, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database, Political Monitoring Blog Posts /by Aidan Stansbury

Last week, the elections dominated proceedings, and this week, focus will centre on the crucial King’s Speech, a chance for Starmer to swing the seemingly insurmountable tsunami of pressure he faces currently.

As this blog is posted, more information on Catherine West MP’s challenge to the Prime Minister will develop, and May could prove to be the straw that broke the camel’s back on Starmer’s tenure in the top office. Multiple takeaways can be drawn from an explosive election period which saw Labour under pressure from all sides: a resurgent Green Party, taking over key councils in London, and the poll-dominating Reform UK, who have firmly positioned themselves as a major party, controlling swathes of local government. Overall, Labour lost 1,496 councillors, with Reform UK the biggest ‘winners’ of the elections, gaining full control of 14 councils. Notably, wins in Barnsley, Sunderland, and Wakefield signal Reform UK coming for the Red Wall, while wins in Suffolk, Essex, and Havering show Reform UK usurping the right-wing vote and replacing the Conservatives. As a result, following the elections, Reform UK have proclaimed themselves as the only ‘national’ party which is competitive across the country. Meanwhile, the Greens took key wins in London, notably winning the mayoralty and council control in Hackney and Lewisham, two Labour stalwarts over recent decades.

In both Scotland and Wales, the pro-independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru took home the most votes. While the SNP lost 6 seats from 2021, they still emerged the dominant party with Labour and Reform UK coming joint second with 17 seats each. In Wales, Plaid Cymru surged to victory, taking 20 more seats than in 2021, considerably outperforming expectations with most polls placing them in the lower- to mid-thirties range. Meanwhile, Labour slumped, losing 35 seats, and First Minister Eluned Morgan will likely head back to the Lords after dramatically losing her seat with only 7.3% of the vote in her constituency. Plaid Cymru Leader Rhun Ap Iorwerth has said Plaid Cymru will ‘move forward as a minority government in a co-operative way’, moving away from the previous expectation of a coalition between parties. No doubt, they will need support from somewhere to move forward proposals such as the Welsh budget. Plaid Cymru’s health policy is centred around two key pledges: to recruit 100 additional salaried GPs and establish 10 new surgical hubs to tackle regional ‘postcode lotteries’. Their manifesto also presents a decentralised governance model, seeking to remove political influence by transferring responsibility, notably through a reformed NHS Executive.

The proposed health policy for the new SNP government is driven by a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach, aiming to streamline corporate activity and protect a strictly publicly owned NHS that is free at the point of delivery. A cornerstone of this vision is a £10bn investment over ten years in infrastructure and Community Health and Care Centre (CHCC) hubs, ensuring that all health budgets are spent directly on care. A defining feature of the SNP’s workforce approach is the introduction of an NHS Job Guarantee, providing all graduates in medicine, nursing, and dentistry with a guaranteed three-year contract. The manifesto also boasts a £530m investment to recruit more family doctors and a revised Golden Hellos initiative to attract specialists to rural and island communities. To tackle waiting lists, the SNP sets a strict mandate that no patient waits longer than 26 weeks for treatment, supported by a minimum annual investment of £200m to expand elective capacity. Access to healthcare will be improved through 30 new seven-day walk-in GP clinics to eliminate the ‘8am rush’ and the rollout of the MyCare.scot app for digital bookings and prescriptions.

The SNP’s manifesto also places an emphasis on drug and alcohol harms, providing 1,000 residential rehab beds and new Alcohol Care Teams in hospitals. There is also reference towards new health MOT ‘one-stop shops’ to tackle poor health indicators, and a range of testing, screening, and diagnostic initiatives to drive early detection. Women’s Health is elevated strongly in the manifesto, including through a £13bn National Plan for Gynaecology and a commitment to recognise endometriosis as a chronic condition. Palliative care is also addressed, with NHS pay parity for hospice staff and a ‘Molly’s Suite’ for paediatric care. Furthermore, by legislating a legal right to breaks for unpaid carers and introducing a strengthened Power of Attorney system, the SNP aims to ensure a stronger and fairer social care service.

It is expected that the Government will use the King’s Speech to formally announce the legislation to abolish NHS England and merge some of its functions into the Department of Health and Social Care. The move has a deadline of April 2027, and was potentially a surprise omission from the first parliamentary session, given its magnitude. The move will look to improve productivity and efficiency, reduce bureaucracy, and cut running costs, most notably through a large reduction in overall headcount of both NHSE and DHSC by 50%. Importantly, not all functions will be merged into DHSC, with key responsibilities, including specialty and strategic commissioning, being reformed in the process.

The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July 2025, lays out key measures which will also require legislation. This includes the merger of the Health Services Safety Investigation Board into the Care Quality Commission and the abolition of Healthwatch, two decisions that have been proposed by the Government to simplify the regulatory landscape, but criticised for reducing transparency and accountability. Legislation to set the parameters and requirements of the Single Patient Record, which will place a duty on every health and care provider to make the information they record about a patient available to that patient, and changes to the patient safety landscape, including a patient safety commissioner, are also expected. Labour are likely to go heavy on policy in an attempt to push back on political pressure and convey a working Government committed to a stronger and fairer country and pushing forward progress amidst the political chaos.

In the previous King’s Speech, and as outlined in their 2024 manifesto, Labour committed to ensuring ‘the next generation can never legally buy cigarettes’. This led to the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, which passed at the end of the last parliamentary session, an emulated version of Rishi Sunak’s attempt at the legislation just prior to the ousting of his Government. As such, this policy was no surprise in the 2024 King’s Speech, and was widely supported by many health charities including the Smokefree Action Coalition, which is a group of over 300 organisations across the UK committed to ending smoking.

The Act is set on the backdrop of a strong push from charities for further smoking restrictions and prevention techniques, backed by scientific evidence. It is widely understood that tobacco is strongly correlated with worse health outcomes, with smoking remaining the most preventable cause of ill health, disability, and death in the UK. These harms have a detrimental impact on the NHS, costing the country an estimated £43.7bn a year in England. Tobacco use is also scientifically considered to cause ill health for non-consumers through secondhand smoke. This is particularly dangerous for medically vulnerable people like children, pregnant women, and those with pre-existing conditions. On top of the immediate health risk, smoking is also strongly linked to exacerbated geographic inequalities, poverty, and poor mental health. Vaping, whiledeemed a successful route out of smoking, has seen a sharp rise in prevalence among children. In 2025, 20% of children (11-17-year-olds) had tried vaping, up from 11% in 2021. Rates of children currently vaping have also risen from 3% in 2021 to 7% in 2025. In addition, vapes, particularly single-use, are an environmental hazard and a health risk, with toxic components such as propylene glycol and glycerine carrying health risks upon consumption. A previous call for evidence found that display and packaging of vapes was enticing for children and a strong factor in youth consumption and wider evidence shows that increased youth vaping is strongly caused by marketing strategies, as well as the attraction of sweet and fruit flavours, alongside exotic names and descriptors.

Previous Acts, Orders, and Regulations have amended legislation to increase: the age of sale of tobacco and vaping products, requirements around age verification and vaping ingredients, control measures relating to public spaces, packaging, display of products, advertising restrictions, and restrictions on smoking around children. Despite these changes, and in reaction to increased pressure, in 2022, Dr Javed Khan OBE undertook a significant independent review into smoking and came to four ‘critical’ recommendations: increase investment into stop smoking services, increase the age of sale from 18 by one year every year, promote vaping (as an effective tool to help people to quit smoking tobacco), and improve prevention through direct advice via healthcare services such as pharmacies, GPs, and hospitals. The 2022 Khan review also recommended banning cartoons or imagery on vape packaging. Public consensus over vaping and smoking restrictions is also overwhelming. A poll conducted by Action on Smoking and Health in 2025 found 68% of the public supported the ‘smokefree generation’ policy to ban the sale of tobacco for anyone born after 2009. The poll also found 65% of people want to live in a country where no one smokes, and 45% believe the Government is not doing enough on the issue.

The Act, while extensive in its number of clauses, is centred around Clause 1 which creates a ‘generational’ age of sale restriction for tobacco products, herbal smoking products, and cigarette papers to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. Tobacco products include any product consisting wholly or partly of tobacco intended to be smoked, sniffed, sucked, chewed, or consumed in any other way. The Act also sets sale restrictions of vaping and nicotine products to under 18s, as well as granting powers to the Secretary of State, and devolved ministers, to introduce licensing schemes for the sale or possession of relevant tobacco products.

The Secretary of State can also legislate, following consultation, to set standards on relevant products, including on: appearance, information, texture, colour, images, shape, physical appearance, technological features, ingredients or flavourings, substances released into the body, and emissions. The Secretary of State is also granted powers to label any public space or workplace as ‘smoke-free’ which removes the existing threshold of a place needing to be at ‘significant risk’. The Act also clarifies restrictions on advertising and sponsorship of relevant products, replacing the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002. This excludes the promotion of vapes and nicotine products where agreed for public health purposes with a public authority.

While reforms to tobacco and vaping regulations have been lobbied against strongly by tobacco companies, the overwhelming pressure, led by science, and pushed by a wide array of health charities has been firm in moving these reforms forward. Despite this, some policy experts have criticised the implementation of the Act, including the ‘generational age’ element where in decades’ time 50-year-olds may be turned away from buying cigarettes, whilst 51-year-olds can smoke freely. This raises the question of fairness, appropriateness, and logistical implementation. The argument also points back to the ongoing debate on individual responsibility and the ‘nanny state’. Nevertheless, the ‘nanny state’ debate is not one that multiple Governments have been shy to act on, with the UK ranking 7th in the 2025 Nanny State Index. This Government is no different and measures on new junk food restrictions, energy drinks, and alcohol pricing compound this. Whilst tobacco has been tackled progressively over many decades, recent scientific discoveries, increased public use, and business innovation has placed vaping firmly under the microscope. As such, the Tobacco and Vapes Act represents the wider cultural shift against tobacco and vaping, tackling both in tandem. In doing so, the Act symbolises the power of public health prevention and the role the state can play in supporting people to live healthier lives.

Brand narratives in the age of AI: The new comms risk PR teams can’t afford to ignore

May 8, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Communications PR, Lumina Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

This is a guest post from Jane Hunt, a digital PR expert, published author and CEO of JBH, an award-winning digital PR and SEO agency.

Much of the current conversation around AI in communications has focused on misinformation and disinformation, and rightly so. However, there is a quieter risk emerging for PR professionals, one that is less about falsehoods and more about absence. AI systems spread narratives, but also determine which narratives are visible in the first place.

Tools like Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity are becoming the first step in discovery. In doing so, they filter brands based on how clearly and consistently they are understood across the web.

This creates a new risk: not being misrepresented or criticised but being omitted entirely. If a brand’s narrative is weak, fragmented or difficult to understand, AI systems may simply bypass it in favour of brands who have a very clear positioning.

How AI systems construct (and distort) brand narratives

Large language models (LLMs) do not assess brands in the same way as traditional search engines. Rather than ranking pages based on keywords or backlinks alone, they synthesise patterns across vast datasets that include media coverage, blogs, reviews, forums, and structured content.

Google has indicated that its AI-generated responses prioritise high-quality information drawn from multiple authoritative sources, while OpenAI has stated that models favour information that is consistently represented across trusted data.

In practice, this means repetition becomes a proxy for credibility, consistency signals authority and clarity signals usefulness.

The three narrative risks: ignored, miscast or diluted

The first and most overlooked risk is invisibility: When a brand lacks a consistently reinforced narrative across credible sources, including the press, AI systems can struggle to categorise it. This makes it far less likely to appear in AI-generated answers. Evidence of this can already be seen in Google’s AI Overviews, where only a small subset of brands are cited even in highly competitive categories.

A 2024 study by Seer Interactive found that visibility in AI-generated results is influenced by more than just rankings, with factors like content quality, PR, and strategic positioning playing a growing role. This indicates a shift from volume-driven SEO and PR to more coherent, authoritative brand narratives.

The second risk is distortion: When the dominant signals around a brand are negative, inconsistent or unclear, AI systems will still include that brand, but often in a reframed or simplified way. Because LLMs reflect aggregate sentiment, a small number of high-profile criticisms can outweigh a larger body of neutral coverage. Similarly, a complex repositioning may be reduced to a perception of confusion, or a short-term crisis may become a defining narrative, one that AI overviews may reference in the answer if they do feature the brand.

Once this pattern is established, it is reinforced at scale across summaries, comparisons, and recommendations.

The third risk is dilution: Brands with generic, indistinct messaging often fail to surface in AI outputs because they lack memorability. If a brand’s positioning is very similar to competitors, it becomes harder for AI systems to choose it as an example. This aligns with well-established research in cognitive psychology, which shows that distinctiveness improves recall.

Why traditional PR metrics fall short

Traditional PR metrics such as media coverage, impressions, and backlinks still have value, but they are not sufficient indicators of visibility in an AI-driven environment. These metrics measure reach, but they do not capture how a brand is interpreted or summarised by AI systems.

What matters more is whether a brand’s narrative is consistent across sources, whether third parties can clearly articulate what the brand does, and whether it appears in content that explains, educates or solves problems. As a result, PR should be shifting from a focus on visibility metrics to a focus on interpretability i.e. how easily a brand can be understood and featured in an answer.

What comms teams should do now

For comms teams, this shift requires a more disciplined and strategic approach to message and narrative development. Consistency must be treated not just as a branding exercise, but as a form of risk management. Fragmented messaging weakens the signals that AI systems rely on to classify and recall a brand.

Narratives must also be designed to stand independently of the organisation. If journalists, analysts or customers cannot easily explain what a brand does, AI systems will face the same challenge. Clarity and simplicity are essential.

In addition, PR efforts should prioritise high-trust, high-context publications. Thought leadership, expert commentary and educational content are far more likely to be used by AI systems than purely promotional announcements. These formats provide the explanatory depth that LLMs depend on.

Finally, narrative shaping must be proactive. By the time a narrative becomes visible in AI-generated outputs, it has already been reinforced across multiple sources. This leaves little room for reactive correction. PR teams must focus on seeding and reinforcing clear narratives early, before alternative or negative interpretations gain traction.

For more advice on updating your comms strategy for the impacts of AI and LLMs, check out key insight from Vuelio’s latest webinar, ‘AI as the new PR & comms stakeholder‘.

25 years of the Journalist Enquiry Service: Its impact on the biggest news stories, then and now

May 7, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Communications, Media Press and Bloggers, Journalist Enquiry Service, Media Database, Media Analysis, PR Blog Posts /by Andrew Strutt

The ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service celebrates a special milestone this year as it’s 25 years since its launch. The service has been there to assist thousands of journalists over this period, and give PRs the opportunity to secure media coverage for their experts, case studies, press releases and more.

Here is a look back at some of the biggest events and stories the Journalist Enquiry Service was able to help amplify across the UK over the last 20 years, and what’s happening in our 25th year.

Global economic events

Talking about big economic events from the last 20 years, 2008 would stand out for many of us in the UK and Europe – certainly comms and journalists tasked with covering the business and personal finance beat at the time.

Personal Finance-related media requests from journalists and broadcasters surged in the midst of the crisis, reflecting the immediate need for consumer information about what this meant for the public’s finances. And UK PR and comms people were there to help, offering advice from key experts and case studies from those impacted.

But that wasn’t the end of wide-spread financial woes, with the Cost of Living Crisis continuing to rumble on. First catching significant media attention towards the end of 2021, the Journalist Enquiry Service’s Personal Finance category saw a significant and sustained spike, increasing by nearly 70% from 1,926 in 2020 to a peak of 3,254 in 2022. Journalists needed practical, consumer-focused advice on budgeting, inflation, and debt, and turned to the UK PR users of the Journalist Enquiry Service for support. In 2022, Business & Finance media requests peaked again, (6,339) this time with asks for corporate strategy and the broader economic outlook.

What does this mean for PRs now?

If you want to reach out to a journalist covering Business & Finance in 2026, the focus should be on thought leadership and forward-looking analysis. Go beyond simple reporting when responding to requests and offer expert commentary on long-term economic forecasts, sector-specific performance in challenging environments, and strategic advice for businesses navigating the current climate.

Trying to get coverage with Personal Finance journalists? The big increase in the number of requests during times of crisis over the last 20 years suggests that the media is looking for immediate, practical advice on topics like saving, managing utility bills, mortgages, debt management, and more. For these significant events that will affect consumers due to high inflation and economic volatility, have experts ready to provide clear, non-jargon solutions.

Infrastructure and construction

While the Construction & Property and Manufacturing, Engineering & Energy categories on the Journalist Enquiry Service are traditionally less busy than others – primarily serving niche trade publications – related requests grew significantly between 2005 and 2008 – peaks coinciding with the planning and initial heavy construction phases of projects like the Elizabeth Line and the Battersea Power Station redevelopment – both having driven high media interest in the sector’s activity and scale.

Manufacturing, Engineering & Energy requests from the media have surged again recently – indicating the media’s increased focus on the industrial and supply-chain aspects of large-scale infrastructure, and perhaps the growing focus on energy transition, too.

What does this mean for PRs now?

When it comes to Construction & Property-focused media, general construction activity is less newsworthy than project milestones. If you want to get media coverage in this sector, focus on major project announcements, planning approvals, and any impactful delays. There is also a chance to cover innovative engineering if you can explain how it is done, the final launch, and what impact this is going to have on the sector and the local community.

Manufacturing, Engineering & Energy has seen major growth as a category recently and will most likely continue due to major projects like HS2 still on-going and recent ones like Thames Tideway only recently completed. The focus for PRs needs to be on technical innovations, UK manufacturing successes, and the energy implications of infrastructure. Stories and experts to talk about the materials used, the engineering feats, and the green energy solutions will resonate strongly with journalists covering this sector.

Political instability and change

The Public Sector, Third Sector & Legal category is another traditionally smaller category for the Journalist Enquiry Service, but it’s seen a sustained increase in requests from the media since 2015 – unsurprising, considering the political uncertainty of Brexit in 2016, calls for Scottish Independence and several different changes of Prime Minister during the recent Conservative government.

The number of requests shot up from 1367 in 2014 to 2407 in 2017 – taking in the 2015 General Election and the 2016 Brexit Referendum, reflecting the massive focus from journalists on both the legal and public implications of leaving the EU.

Requests from journalists hit an all-time high of 2907 in 2022, coinciding with the Conservative government making multiple Prime Minister changes (Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak) – journalists sought to cover the continued political instability, and the fallout around the cost-of-living crisis – something PR subscribers to the Journalist Enquiry Service were able to help with.

What does this mean for PRs now?

When political turmoil or constitutional shifts occur (like a new PM or a major policy pivot), PRs should focus on proactively pitching legal and public policy experts with clear, non-partisan analysis of how new legislation, devolved powers, or government restructuring will affect public services, the third sector, or regulatory environments. After an election or a major policy announcement (e.g. a post-Brexit trade deal, a new devolution package), the focus should shift to the mechanics and consequences of the policy. The number of journalist requests don’t just peak before a change, but also afterwards as the media covers the implementation and the ensuing legal and social challenges.

In terms of the opportunities for the Third Sector, the periods of crisis or public sector cuts ( often a consequence of political change), increase the media’s attention on charities and non-profit organisations. PRs working in this space should focus on data-driven stories demonstrating the impact of their work in filling gaps left by state services and advocating for policy change.

The social media boom and new technology

The development of technologies has been vast over the last twenty years and from 2005 until 2017, there was massive growth and journalists have made use of the Consumer Technology category with requests rocketing up from 903 to 4794. This coincided with the explosion of smartphones, social media platforms, and the app economy, and journalists were keen to cover all these changes. Since 2017, the number of requests has remained high, with the media tending to focus on general consumer gadgets and apps as they develop and evolve.

The Computing & Telecoms category has likewise seen a similar initial rise in requests from the media, hitting its peak in 2016 with 3490. This was largely driven by the development of modern communication infrastructures such as broadband, 4G, and cloud services. Another increase in journalist attention came in 2023 after the launch of the first major landmark in large language models (LLMs) – ChatGPT. AI has become one of the most consistent keywords on the Journalist Enquiry Service, but deep tech topics like quantum computing can also crop up in other categories such as Business & Finance and Manufacturing, Engineering & Energy.

What does this mean for PRs now?

Journalists that cover consumer technology, such as gadgets, are less likely to be looking for the technical specifications (which drove interest pre-2017) and are now more focused on the cultural, social, or personal impact of the technology. For instance, covering the ethics of a new social media feature, or how an app changes lifestyle, will resonate better than simply launching a new phone model.

PRs working in spaces such as AI and quantum computing may want to look beyond just the Computing & Telecoms category and also pitch to business journalists who will be looking at the commercial application, ROI, or national industrial strategy behind the technology. Most tech journalists working on trade outlets will know the technical complexity of new technologies and will instead be interested in covering the tangible, real-world benefits of what is being developed and launched.

The Journalist Enquiry Service in 2026: Even more ways to connect with the media

ResponseSource and Vuelio have always sought to support the comms and media industries with their unique challenges. This year, we’ve integrated media requests from the Journalist Enquiry Service into the Vuelio Media Database to enrich and expand opportunities for connection and collaboration.

Embedding media requests into the Vuelio Media Database directly provides PRs a peek into newsrooms now, combining with insight into what is coming up months in the future from forward features lists.

As the media and comms industry evolves with the changing times, the Journalist Enquiry Service will continue to be here to connect them, and help with the big news stories of the future.

Find out more about the Journalist Enquiry Service here.

The UK Housing Crisis: From A Supply Problem To A Political Emergency?

May 6, 2026/0 Comments/in PR, Communications, Media Media Analysis, PR, Press and Bloggers, Lumina, Media Monitoring Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

The UK housing debate has become heated as arguments over who we are building for and whether the current political leadership is capable of delivering on its promises abound.

Over the last month, the conversation has moved away from construction targets and toward a much messier reality involving planning gridlock, industrial supply chain failures, and a burgeoning leadership crisis in Westminster.

To understand how these narratives are moving, we analysed media data using Vuelio’s Lumina. This AI-powered tool surfaces the stories that matter, the different viewpoints within them, and the specific people and organisations driving the news. Between 5 April and 30 April 2026, we examined 17 distinct stories with competing perspectives to cut through thousands of media items and offer a definite look at where the narratives sit right now.

The results show a sector under immense pressure. From the grey belt of Kent to the rural Highlands, the debate is fragmenting. For those in public affairs and communications, staying on top of these shifts is the difference between leading the conversation and being buried by it.

Here is what the data tells us about the current state of the UK housing market…

A Perfect Storm Brings Housebuilding To A Decade Low

The most dominant story right now reflects a growing concern that the national housebuilding machine has ground to a halt. While the Labour government remains committed to its target of 1.5 million homes, the industry is describing a perfect storm that makes those numbers look more like a dream than a delivery plan.

The Home Builders Federation and major players like the Berkeley Group are leading this narrative, arguing that the entire financial model of building in the UK is becoming unviable. They point to a mix of high interest rates, rising material costs, and what they call bureaucratic ‘sludge’ in the planning system. This has led to a situation where major developers are cutting back on land purchases, with no clear path to profit.

Due to the data, this viewpoint carries a lot of weight. Construction starts in London have plummeted to levels not seen in years, and national figures for brick and block deliveries are falling. As reported by Guardian Online, these systemic delays are now being described as a ‘housing recession’, putting the Government in a difficult spot. While ministers insist their planning reforms will eventually work, the industry loudly disagrees.

The key drivers here are the industry bodies who have shifted from quiet lobbying to very public warnings. Neil Jefferson of the Home Builders Federation is a central figure, framing the crisis as a failure of policy to meet economic reality. When these organisations speak, they go beyond representing individual companies, to an entire supply chain that feels abandoned by the current fiscal environment.

The Battle Over ‘Beauty’ And Family Space In London

While the national story is about volume, the London narrative is about quality and suitability. A major divide has opened up between City Hall and its critics over what kind of homes the capital actually needs. The Deputy Mayor for Housing Tom Copley has been vocal in defending the current strategy, predicting that 2026 will be a turnaround year.

However, a growing chorus of experts and politicians disagree. The Housing Forum and the G15 group of housing associations are pushing a perspective that London is centering units over people. They argue that building thousands of small one-bedroom flats does nothing for the 75,000 households stuck in temporary accommodation, or families living in overcrowded conditions. They instead want a shift toward counting the number of people housed, rather than just the number of front doors created.

This debate has become aesthetically-focused, as well. Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly has entered the fray, attacking what he calls ‘soulless tower blocks’. He advocates for ‘mansion blocks’ and ‘intelligent density’, in some clever political positioning. With the focus on ‘beauty’ and ‘gentle density’, the Conservatives seek to win over local residents with a tendency to block new developments. Their bet: people are less likely to say no plans that are an aesthetic improvement.

According to MyLondon, this debate is a fundamental challenge to the Mayor’s strategy. If the public starts to believe that the new homes being built are the wrong homes, political support for massive development could vanish. The key drivers in this section, including Anna Clarke of The Housing Forum, are successfully reframing the crisis as one of distribution and suitability, not just supply.

Political Instability Casting A Shadow Over Policy

Perhaps a concerning trend for those in the housing sector is how much the Mandelson controversy and questions regarding Keir Starmer’s leadership are starting to take hold of the policy agenda – the work of fixing the planning system curtailed by a focus on internal dissent and scandals.

Commentators like Alex Brummer for This Is Money and reporters for the Financial Times are painting a picture of a ‘rudderless’ Britain, with power draining away from Downing Street. And this could have real-world consequences for the economy going beyond gossip, with the Bank of England maintaining a cautious approach to interest rates, and the uncertainty in Westminster making investors nervous.

When a Prime Minister is under fire, bold reforms get pushed to the back burner, and we are already seeing this play out with housing targets. Industry analysts are increasingly calling the 1.5 million aim ‘fanciful’ as the political capital needed to force planning changes through is being spent on managing party rebellions.

The key drivers here are high-profile columnists and disillusioned backbenchers, who are linking political failure directly to the housing slump. Their argument: If the government cannot manage its own party, how can it manage the biggest building programme in 50 years? This link is potentially dangerous for the Labour brand, turning a technical policy failure into a perceived character flaw of leadership.

Supply Chain Shocks And Creative Solutions

While influential players argue in London, other stories show how the crisis is hitting the ground in different ways. The GMB Union has raised a red flag regarding brick manufacturing, pointing out a ‘nonsensical’ energy policy that gives relief to mortar makers but excludes brick kilns. This has led to factories idling and stockpiles growing, even as the country begs for more homes. Charlotte Brumpton-Childs from GMB is a key driver here, aiming to protect manufacturing jobs and pointing out the disconnect in government strategy.

Concurrently, there are creative, and controversial, attempts to bypass the planning system. In Ireland, the government has approved exemptions for garden homes and modular cabins. While ministers like Micheál Martin champion this as a pragmatic solution to a national emergency, housing advocates like Threshold warn it could lead to a return to substandard ‘beds in sheds‘.

In Kent, Hallam Land is testing the new grey belt rules with a 300-home proposal in Sevenoaks. This has sparked a familiar villager versus developer trope,, with local residents calling it an ‘absolute joke’, and the developer characterising the move instead as a ‘sympathetic expansion’. This story could be a preview of the many battles that will take place across the UK as the Government attempts to reclassify green belt land.

What This Means For Comms Professionals

For PR and public affairs professionals, this data suggests that supply vs demand messaging won’t get attention from the press, or from stakeholders. Campaigns focusing on building more should make way for updates on what is being built, where it is, and who it is for:

The suitability message: The focus is shifting to family-sized homes and ‘intelligent density’. If representing a developer, lead with how projects fit the local population’s specific needs, not the contribution to a national target.

Infrastructure first: The Sevenoaks story shows that local opposition is still rooted in infrastructure fears (doctors, schools, traffic). Communicators must address these points before they talk about the houses.

Everything is political: Housing is being used as a means to criticise the current UK leadership. Any project that stalls can be framed as a failure of the Government – be prepared for your project to become a political pinball.

Supply chain transparency: The brick and energy crisis shows that the how of building is just as important as the where. There is a space for thought leadership on industrial strategy and how it supports housing.

The UK housing crisis is currently enmeshed in a collection of competing crises, with a construction crisis, a planning crisis, and a leadership crisis all happening at once. The narrative has moved from a debate about numbers to a complex argument about aesthetics, family needs, and industrial viability.

Navigating this environment requires an understanding of the perspectives that are gaining traction and the key drivers and stakeholders who are shifting public opinion. The data from Lumina shows that the winners in this debate will be those who can bridge the gap between policy ambition and the reality on the ground. By staying ahead of emerging trends in the press, communicators can help shape a more constructive conversation.

Find out more about the closer alignment between public affairs, communications, and the political press here.

The LLM visibility gap: Why PRs need to earn attention in AI answers

April 29, 2026/0 Comments/in Politics, PR, Communications, Media, Public Affairs Media Database, Media Monitoring, PR, Lumina Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

The communications landscape has been transformed by the emergence of artificial intelligence, and the traditional tools of PR have had to evolve to keep up. For organisations operating in a world of fragmented media and accelerating sharing, AI must be utilised as a tool, but also treated as an influential stakeholder.

The challenge has taken PR & Comms professionals beyond traditional media monitoring, with success now also depending on whether Large Language Models (LLMs) recognise your organisation, your clients, and your messaging, and include them in their generated answers. If absent from AI summaries, your organisation risks becoming invisible to a generation of users who rely on these systems for their primary information.

AI can be a blocker, or a connector

AI is a powerful stakeholder in its own right, and like any other stakeholder, can’t be ignored.

During Vuelio webinar ‘AI as the new PR & comms stakeholder‘, the University of Huddersfield’s Dr Anne Gregory highlighted how the growing dependence on these tools is reshaping how we practice communications.

‘AI is much more than just an assistant; it is a powerful actor in the information ecosystem.

‘It mediates our engagement with organisations and individuals, and evidence is emerging that AI is often believed more than other traditional sources.’

This shift in trust represents a significant risk for those caught unprepared. If an LLM synthesises a narrative about your client or brand that is factually flawed, or omits your perspective entirely, the speed at which that ‘truth’ takes hold is fast.

However, many PR teams still aren’t paying significant attention to this. Purposeful Relations‘ Stuart Bruce highlighted how teams currently allocate their resources as just one example.

‘If you look at where budgets and effort are currently directed, the focus remains heavily on social media influencers,’ he observed. ‘Meanwhile, far less attention is paid to AI answers, which are becoming significantly more influential and persuasive.’

‘Invisible’ organisations

Media fragmentation has made it harder than ever to maintain a coherent narrative. Between political volatility, geopolitical shifts, and the sheer volume of digital noise, the feedback loop of communications is compressing. In this environment, comms teams need to go beyond monitoring and interpreting to anticipating and ‘pre-bunking’.

Because the risk of being ignored by LLMs is a commercial one. Gartner’s recent report ‘Top Predictions to Inform 2026 Comms Strategies‘ highlighted a critical shift for Chief Communications Officers (CCO) towards Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO).

Gaining visibility in AI answers doesn’t require a skill set completely new to comms professionals, however. The shift can be simple: to be included in an AI answer, your organisation must provide enough digital touchpoints for the model to verify your information as reliable.

As Stuart Bruce puts it: ‘AI creates content in the same way a journalist or an analyst might, by synthesising countless bits of information from across the web.

‘The more touchpoints the AI finds to verify a fact, the more likely it is to include it. If we don’t create an environment where the AI can find enough evidence of our perspective, it simply won’t give it.’

Closing the gap

The secret to a successful campaign in 2026 and beyond lies in ensuring your key facts, executive commentary, and brand milestones are structured and accessible to LLMs – placing information in enough reputable digital locations (from media outlets to white papers and official statements) that an AI agent perceives your narrative as the authoritative one.

As Dr Anne Gregory warned: ‘Once a narrative is set, it becomes extremely difficult to counter. This is why PR must come in early. AI agents use information to create their own sources of knowledge; if the data they collect is flawed, the consequences for the organisation are severe.’

PRs continue to be the architects of brand reputation, tasked with influencing both the human audience and the intelligent agents that interpret the world for them.

What’s next?

The organisations that will thrive in this AI-mediated world are those that earn credibility through the discoverability of their message – like the comms outreach of old, but evolved.

At Vuelio, our platform is built to support exactly this kind of purposeful communication, with our Lumina suite continuing to evolve to meet the needs of today’s comms teams. Whether you are in-house or agency, the goal remains the same: to ensure that when AI is asked a question about your sector, your organisation, or your clients, your voice is the one it uses to provide the answer.

Find out more about Lumina.

AI is the new stakeholder for PR and comms

AI is the new PR & comms stakeholder

April 23, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Communications, Media Media Monitoring, Political Services, PR, Press and Bloggers, Lumina, Media Database Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Artificial Intelligence impacts PR & comms in two distinct ways. It transforms how practitioners work with massive volumes of media, and at a greater degree of sophistication and personalisation. At the same time, it’s also a powerful force shaping how information is surfaced, interpreted, and acted upon across the entire communications industry. What’s changed isn’t just ‘how’ you do the work, but your reason for doing it in the first place.

Not sure if you agree? The current landscape makes clear just how important factoring in AI’s influence is. According to Gartner’s latest predictions for 2026, the mass adoption of public Large Language Models (LLMs) as a replacement for traditional search is expected to drive a significant increase in PR and earned media budgets by 2027. To add to this, BCG’s AI Radar global survey found that corporate investments in AI have doubled since last year.

From the PRCA’s recent green paper on responsible AI, to the CIPR’s focus as part of its survey for 2026, the sector is rapidly investing in this future. And with the EU AI Act deadline on the horizon, the urgency for robust governance and planning has never been higher. As Rupert Younger, Director of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation, put it as long ago as 2024: ‘AI is not just a technology, it has become a stakeholder’.

To navigate this new reality, we were joined by Dr Anne Gregory, Professor Emeritus at the University of Huddersfield, and Stuart Bruce, PR Futurist and Co-founder of Purposeful Relations, for our latest webinar, ‘AI as the new PR & comms stakeholder’.

Watch the full webinar here.

In the session, we explored how this new stakeholder is redefining reputation, influence, and strategy.

What kind of stakeholder is AI?

While many across the comms industry still view AI as a digital assistant for finding efficiencies and speeding up elements of our daily responsibilities, Anne argues it has moved into a more active role:

‘In one sense, AI is a compliant assistant, helping us along the campaign creation trail from research to identifying and prioritising stakeholders, tracking sentiment. But even here, it’s doing that in your name and in your organisation’s name. You have to have a stake in its work, because it certainly has a stake in yours.’

‘We’re becoming increasingly dependent on these tools, and they’re shaping our practice and behavior, but AI is much more than just an assistant. It’s a powerful actor in the information ecosystem.’

While AI lacks anything approaching human intentionality (for now…) its algorithmic processes produce significant real-world consequences. It shapes organisational perceptions and mediates engagement with individuals, often presenting summaries that are believed more than traditional sources.

‘AI is becoming a very strong stakeholder,’ said Anne. ‘ I like Dr. Nici Sweaney’s definition of these agents and AI, it’s an accidental stakeholder’.

Stuart Bruce added that there is still significant confusion regarding what AI actually means for practitioners. Purposeful Relations’ research with 72Point revealed that 44% of UK consumers trust AI answers – a figure nearly double the 24% who trust social media influencers:

‘If you look at where budgets and effort goes at the moment, it’s going to social media influencers; it’s not going into what’s happening with AI answers, which are becoming a lot more influential and persuasive.

‘Anne talked about accidental stakeholders – you’ve actually also got the accidental AI users, because even those people that aren’t using AI, they’re still going to be seeing those AI overviews in search. This is where we talk about ‘zero click’, because people are often seeing those answers and going no further.

‘It’s not just about visibility, it’s actually also about accuracy – how your organisation is being portrayed, your leadership, and your people. You’re going to want your particular perspective to be coming out in AI answers.’

The dangers of underestimating AI’s role as a stakeholder

If AI is treated only as a tool or assistant, organisations face substantial reputational risks. Anne warned about the danger of underestimating AI’s power to curate and shape truth:

‘For a lot of people, it has become a source of truth. Maybe PR people are more skeptical of AI than others… but the world isn’t peopled by AI experts or public relations experts. Even though we know these summaries are often incomplete and biased, we tend to believe them. If we don’t regard AI as an influential stakeholder, we could be putting ourselves in jeopardy.’

Anne pointed out the difference with this stakeholder and stakeholders as they’re currently understood, particularly the media.

‘There’s an interesting difference here. If you’ve got a beef with a journalist and you think they’ve not represented you fairly, you can go and have a conversation with that journalist, and you can present them with a case. You can even go to the editor and get some sort of redress. You can’t do that with AI, not in the same way at all.

‘AI is a very powerful and influential stakeholder, but not one that you can necessarily influence back directly. Once a narrative is set, it becomes really, really difficult to counter it. Which is, of course, where PR comes in.’

Trouble can also come if comms practitioners fail to make full use of traditional tools in the PR kit that came way before AI: getting a story out to as many influential sources as possible.

For a practical example, Stuart shared the story of a university industrial dispute. The AI’s narrative was dominated by the trade union’s perspective, because the union had provided multiple touchpoints – website statements, social media, and media quotes. The university, in comparison, having viewed the situation as negative, only responded directly to journalists:

‘The trade union gave them half a dozen quotes – the university gave them one. It just wasn’t credible. This is what AI as a stakeholder actually means. The more touchpoints that AI can find to verify that a piece of information is a fact, the more likely it is to be included in that AI answer.’

Shifting narratives and the speed of change

Anne reflected on the speed of adoption, noting that CIPR’s AIinPR 2018 literature review could not have predicted the current reach of generative models. She admitted that while the PR industry was initially slow to adopt and adapt, it has quickly developed an ‘obsession with tools’ rather than considering the broader implications:

‘We didn’t realise that AI is a stakeholder for the whole organisation. We are only now waking up to the fact that we have an enormous role in the governance of these systems. At the end of the day, we’re talking about the legitimacy of whole organisations.’

Stuart emphasised the need for PR and comms teams to factor AI’s influence into strategies now, particularly to curtail false narratives, misinformation, and disinformation:

‘If organisations aren’t doing something now, it’s too late.

‘NATO published a paper on misinformation and disinformation and one of the concepts that NATO talks about a lot is “pre-bunking” and “inoculation” – making sure that your information is out there. And that’s what you need to do with AI – it’s too late to wait, and watch, and see. You actually need to be making sure that it understands your perspective now – it’s not just as simple as dealing with a truculent journalist or an activist group. AI is influenced by a multitude of sources.’

Navigating governance and internal responsibility

With a lack of one source of truth regarding the ethical use of AI, Stuart highlighted the importance of ‘living and breathing’ internal governance and responsibility, involving continuous training and feedback loops:

‘Too often what people try to do is create an AI policy, and on its own, that’s fairly meaningless. Governance is something entirely different. The policy only means something if you’ve done some training to go with it.’

Stuart introduced the concept of a ‘social license’ for AI — gaining trust from other stakeholders, internal and external, for how an organisation embraces the technology.

‘It’s making sure that it’s not just about how you as PR people or comms people are using AI, but how the organisation is embracing it. How on earth do we get trust from all of our other stakeholders for the things that we might want to do with AI? How do we bring our employees with us? How do we make sure that we’re using it in the most sustainable way possible?

‘What are we doing to address issues around bias and inclusivity, fairness and access? The answer is going to be different for each organisation.’

What can the industry do now to work with this new stakeholder?

Both speakers offered critical advice for practitioners to follow now. Anne urged the comms industry to continue to question what AI offers and evolve their approach as the technology changes:

‘Constantly ask yourself three questions: Why are we using AI? How is it built? And who is it going to be affecting?

‘Remember, it’s not just an agent at your service; it’s an equaliser of power that takes a stake in you and your organisation as much as you use it to influence others.’

Stuart expressed concern that hype, and confusion, around terms like Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is turning a portion of comms people off of thinking about the ramifications of AI as a stakeholder:

‘There is a lot of hype, but the fundamental point remains: you must renew your communication strategy. If comms people aren’t thinking about this this year, they’re going to be in real trouble.’

Simple tips for AI-friendly outreach

When asked for tips on making media outreach more AI-friendly, Stuart was adamant: do not write for machines.

‘We should still 100% be writing for humans. However, it’s possible to write for humans in an AI-friendly way so that AI can understand and read it as well.’

He identified three factors AI prioritises:

Recency: AI likes fresh content to supplement its training data. If you have a research report, keep refreshing it with new aspects.

Relevance: AI recognises specialist niche titles and trade media. Some syndicate titles that practitioners sometimes sneer at are actually vital because AI uses them to fill data gaps.

Reputation: AI looks for ‘proof points,’ like whether a spokesperson has a matching biography on the website or a consistent LinkedIn profile.

Stuart suggested that practitioners must broaden their scope of stakeholders. While first-tier earned media remains important, much of it is hidden behind paywalls. AI will look elsewhere for information:

‘When a comms team is doing outreach, if the CEO has got a limited time to do interviews, it changes the priority of the ones we’re going to accept. When we talk about owned media – not just necessarily talking about your own owned media – often we’re talking about partners, suppliers, or customers, and what they’re publishing and sharing.

‘We are in public relations – the key word is “relations”. Sometimes we focus on two small a segment of stakeholders. We might look at the media, we might look at politicians, but it needs to be a lot broader than that.

‘We really need to understand all of the relationships that an organisation has and think about whether we can manage those relationships in a better way, but also what impact that’s going to have on AI answers, because it is going to have an impact on both.

‘Fundamentally, organisations need relationships to exist. You can’t exist in a vacuum, so it’s important that we get this right.’

And to finish on a positive note: Anne saw great opportunity for public relations’ new stakeholder in AI – bringing new ways to connect and relate:

‘That’s one positive thing that AI can help us with. Look at the spread of relationships that are going to help us get traction with a whole range of other organisations, and influential people.’

For more on how AI is speeding up the spread of information – and challenges to the comms industry – check out our previous webinar ‘AI, Disinformation and the Risks They Pose for Communicators Today‘ with Thomas Barton, Executive Director of the Council for Countering Online Disinformation and CEO of Polis Analysis.

Home improvement advice, running coaches and gardening experts: How to get UK press coverage in April 2026

April 16, 2026/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Communications, Media Media Database, Media Monitoring, PR, Press and Bloggers, Journalist Enquiry Service Blog Posts /by Andrew Strutt

What are journalists looking to cover in April and beyond? With another big holiday now behind us in Easter, it can be tricky to know what topics might stand out for the media in among all the current affairs and trending issues. From insight via the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service (which is now also available in the Vuelio platform), we share what journalists have been looking for recently and where you can expect to get media coverage over the next month or so.

Interest in home improvements rising

The Home & Garden category is always a popular one on the Journalist Enquiry Service but recently ‘home’ has been cropping up in a lot of enquiries – in March, it appeared in 11% of the total for the month. Within this, there were also around 2% focused solely on ‘interiors’ as journalists look to get experts and comment on ways that people can make home improvements before the summer arrives.

Journalists at Your Home, Livingetc, Homebuilding & Renovating, House Beautiful, Metro, Daily Mail, and Ideal Home all sent enquiries last month relating to the home. These included looking for case studies of interior designers or influencers who have created a beautiful home, expert commentary about using vintage pieces from the 1960s in homes, home storage products to review and for information on a Spring/Summer home, garden & DIY makeover feature.

Going forward? In April last year, ‘home’ appeared in just over 8% of the total requests meaning that journalists will continue to be looking for experts, products to review and case studies for the rest of this month and likely into May as well. Interior designers are particularly popular but anything home-related will have a good chance of securing media coverage in either consumer magazines or websites.

Running and fitness experts in demand

Marathon season is very much upon us with the Brighton marathon taking place last weekend, and Manchester happening this weekend, before London on 26 April. The media has been looking for experts in this field, and ‘running’ has cropped up in 2.5% of requests in March. Journalists have also looked to cover health and fitness more generally as well and ‘fitness’ appeared in just over 2% of the enquiries last month.

The running-related requests have included the best running essentials for beginners inspired by the London Marathon, a physiotherapist specialising in running, and PTs and running experts to provide advice and tips on carbon plate trainers. Meanwhile, the fitness enquiries have seen journalists looking for diet and fitness transformations of women over 40, information on the new wave of wearable health and fitness tech you can talk to, and a physiologist or sports science expert to provide comment for a piece about cardio fitness.

Going forward? We are very much into ‘running season’ right now and the media are regularly looking for experts (running coaches, former athletes, and personal trainers) to help give advice or tips to tie in with their articles. Running appeared in 2% of the total requests in April last year, so we would expect to see similar engagement this year. Fitness more generally is a frequent keyword on the service and normally offers up more opportunities to feature case studies and products to review. If you have experts ready to give comment then they could get coverage in Women’s Health, Men’s Fitness, The Times, Marie Claire, or The Independent as journalists from all these titles sent a request last month.

Gardening tips and advice wanted

With Spring now fully in bloom and better weather (slowly) returning, journalists look to cover gardening tips and tricks to share with their readers. ‘Gardening’ appeared in a little over 5% of all the requests in March with ‘plants/planting’ featuring in 1.5% as the media sought advice on what flowers and shrubs people should be looking to plant during this season.

Journalists at Country Living, Good Housekeeping, PA Media, Gardens Illustrated, and woman & home have all sent gardening-related enquiries in March. These have mainly been asking for experts to answer questions such as solving daffodil blindness, whether you should get rid of caterpillars and about self-seeding plants. There have also been a few case study requests for people who grew their own balcony garden in a city apartment, and for products to review such as lawnmowers and other gardening equipment.

Going forward? April last year saw a similar level of interest in gardening to March this year with 5% of all enquiries being around this topic, and it then increased in May 2025 to over 6%. Journalists will tend to seek out gardening experts to share their advice but there will also be the chance to get products featured and case studies as well.

Other opportunities for PRs in April and beyond

The current war in the Middle East has generated a lot of media attention and that has fed through to the Journalist Enquiry Service as well, particularly in relation to ‘energy’ which appeared in just over 3% of the requests last month. The war’s impact on gas and oil prices has been the main focus of journalists sending requests and we are likely to see more enquiries regarding energy experts and analysts to share their insight going forward over the next few weeks and months.

Another topical issue is the ‘environment’ and that cropped up in 3% of all enquiries in March. With Earth Day taking place on 22 April, there is likely to be a greater focus from the media on this topic. If you have environmental experts or case studies of people that are making a difference to reduce their impact on climate change and global warming, then they could well get national or broadcast coverage.

Want to get the most out of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service? Find out how here.