The biggest comms surprises of 2026 so far

We’re nearing the halfway point of 2026, and one thing’s for sure: it hasn’t been boring. AI keeps turning everything on its head, the media is becoming more important (but smaller) than ever and PR pros are trying to stay abreast of it all.

We asked practitioners on LinkedIn to share their biggest surprises of the year so far. Here’s a sampling of what they said, lightly edited for style and brevity.

AI’s impact on PR and measurement

Joseph Gallo, director of communications, PayPal

The rise of the PR engineer. AI is unlocking the ability for us to not just get answers but build the solutions we need for daily work. These are solutions that maybe aren’t solving a massive problem but make the difference to individual pros.

Lightning Ele Czabovsky, associate professor, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
How far behind even some of the biggest players still are in measuring their content in AI ecosystems. For many, it remains the Wild Wild West in terms of understanding their content’s impact on AI and AI’s impact on their content and business objectives. It’s reminiscent of how long it took the industry to properly measure social media.

Julie Kelley, media pro and executive speaking trainer
That media coverage has shifted — so significantly — to a critical element of staying relevant with AI. Companies are just skimming the surface of understanding what they are missing if they don’t have comprehensive coverage of their brand.

Sharmin de Vries, senior marketing, PR and communications specialist
Last year a lot of PR pros were praising how AI reinforces earned media, but I’m noticing that overall AI skepticism has tempered that sentiment, not because it isn’t true, but because of other negative side effects.

Debra Hotaling, strategic communications consultant
That we are back to putting releases on the wire but now for for LLM reach. If it gets picked up as a story, cool, but not mission critical.

Evolving media landscape and distribution

Joshua R. Mansbach, communications consultant
Companies still have not fully embraced the power, reach and credibility of citizen journalists, independent investigative reporters and content creators. All the stakeholders and customers that communications needs to reach are consuming YouTube, Substack and podcasts as much as they are reading the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. The sooner that corporate and government leaders stop treating people such as Nick Shirley and Joe Rogan as novelties, and start seeing them as credible media influencers, the smarter our communications strategies will become.

GM McCormick, PR strategist

The lines between traditional media and everything else have collapsed. Earned, owned and social are an ecosystem. When everything is media, the edge is knowing what shapes perception.

Paula Bosler, communications advisor
A big shift in PR has been how and where journalists source expertise. Reporters are increasingly turning to platforms like LinkedIn to find credible voices, real-time insights and diverse perspectives.

Joanna Brody, PR consultant
That people are still watching and getting their news from local TV news. We still pitch local news for our clients because everyone loves to be on TV. The surprise is when friends and neighbors say, “We saw that story.”

Jeannine Ginivan, reputation management and public affairs
Turns out calling the press release “dead” a few years ago was premature. We tried bloggy, kitschy storytelling for everything. Now GEO wants an original source, and the straightforward press release is back. It’s the source of truth everything else can build from for various uses and channels. And ideally one legal can approve.

Trust, strategy and the role of communications

Derek Herman, executive director of communications, CAI
Business leaders say they want communications to be strategic. But if narrative alignment and trust are the end goals, their actions need to reflect it. We need to be brought into the decision-making process and not be expected to only make something “sound better” or to just “send it out.” Slowly I’m seeing that positioning change in our favor.

Lizi Sprague, co-founder, Songue PR
That the finance teams are starting to realize they aren’t experts in comms, and that comms should have a seat at the table and shouldn’t be the first budget to be cut.

Stefanie Tuck, director of public relations, CG Life.
The need for everyone to become a public affairs specialist so we can properly prepare clients for that policy related question that will inevitably come 3 or 4 questions into an interview. Regardless of the original topic for the discussion.

Colleen Herndon Penhall, strategic communications consultant
The biggest communications surprise of 2026? Silence works. Not as strategy. But because the news cycle moved on before the holding statement got approved — and nobody noticed.

Lisa Dawson, director of communications & public relations, StaffDNA
That companies need storytellers. Which also happens to be communicators.