I wonder if there has ever been a time when the media – news, music, or art – hasn’tbeen in a state of upheaval?

On Aug. 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., “Video Killed the Radio Star” by tech-pop duo the Buggles became the first music video ever aired on MTV.

The Buggles’ via their one-hit wonder made some eerie predictions in those song lyrics.

Take this line: “They took the credit for your second symphony, rewritten by machine on new technology.”

Woah woah woah, Buggles. Did you just predict AI?

Nostalgia for the past, concern about “machine” impact on human creativity, trepidation about future formats – these themes all orbit around the idea of impermanence, life’s one and only guarantee. And it’s all still relevant today.

I love this friggin’ song, BTW, which popped into my head out of nowhere today.

Check this out: “In my mind, and in my car. We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far.”

They’re right. We can always look back but we can’t return to the way things were. EVER.

The news media is always shifting too.

In my prior life as a journalist, I’ve worked for several news outlets that no longer exist. The paychecks were such crap, that may be a good thing for the working (wo)man.

Today, we just don’t know how AI is going to play out across newsrooms across the country, on top of long-shrinking ad revenue and continuous layoffs.

But, here’s what I do know.

Despite the flux, I’ve spent my first year as an independent communications professional consistently landing op-eds, pieces in major metropolitan dailies, stories in influential Washington, D.C. outlets, local press hits around the nation, and articles in relevant trades on behalf of my clients. Their ideas are shining bright.

I don’t mean to suggest this is easy. Landing media is hard – and increasingly important. AI bots like Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT are prioritizing news stories for search results. Meanwhile,  the public is increasingly using AI for its online search needs. Not showing up in these results could impact an organization’s ability to woo talent, investors, or customers. The latest reports all suggest AI bots give more weight to journalist-generated content.

If you aren’t showing up here, you may not be showing up at all.

As I continuously look for new places to pitch, I find no shortage of great editors, reporters, and interesting news and new media initiatives. I’m striking up conversations and forming relationships. The possibilities feel endless.

My overarching point is this, and it applies to more than PR: You can view something new as killing something old and see the situation as hopeless, or, you can view the new thing as a rebirth and an opportunity to keep making beautiful music together. I choose the latter point of view.

Video pushed the radio star to embrace the unfamiliar. I’m sure that was sad, disorienting, and uncomfortable for the radio star. But discomfort is right where good stuff starts to happen again.

If it occurred to you whilst reading you need a savvy navigator to sharpen your message and rack up your media wins like nobody’s biz – get in touch. Send a LinkedIn note or a connection request, let’s talk!

Keeping Shop will go on hiatus this August, but will see you in a few weeks. Until then,

Juliana