Global Communications Report

[00:00:17] Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Can You Hear Me podcast. I'm Rob Johnson, president of Rob Johnson Communication. And I'm Eileen Rochford, CEO of the marketing and strategy firm The Harbinger Group. Today, we dig into the 2026 USC Annenberg Global Communication Report, the 11th annual edition of this important report. And this one's titled A Quiet Shift, and it was released late March of this year, 2026. Every year, we devote an episode to this report

[00:00:46] because it is just so impactful and has terrific insights. But here's a little bit of background, if you're not familiar with the report. So it's produced by the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations and sponsored by Meltwater. I feel obligated to say that. That's funny. The report draws on a global survey of agency and in-house PR leaders, as well as the one-on-one interviews with, I love this part, Fortune 500 chief communications officers. You're not going to get that kind of

[00:01:16] insight in many places, which is why I think this report's so valuable. But the central theme of the 2026 report is undeniable. Political and social polarization is permanently reshaping how organizations communicate, how PR terms teams rather define their value, and where this profession is heading. Right. And this is voluminous. It is a 50-page report, so we're not going to be able to

[00:01:43] get into everything here today. But we do want to highlight some of the points we found most compelling. For instance, PR firms and the public are reading the room differently. The report states that 81% of PR professionals say polarization in the U.S. is extremely or very high, while only 69% of the general public says the same. That is a 12-point gap, as you know. PR pros see a broader set of social and policy issues as polarizing, while the public seems more focused on economic

[00:02:12] pressure. So here's the risk that we see. Communication teams may be projecting a level of division onto audiences, and those audiences don't actually feel the same way. So that disconnect is not a good thing, Eileen. No, it's not. And it's generally concerning to me. And I wish I could understand from the report a bit more about the why of that. So my hypothesis is this. PR professionals,

[00:02:39] like former journalists, like yourself, Rob, and myself, are attuned to news coverage at a hyper-alert level, in my opinion. And so we're all looking at a whole lot of bad in the past year all the time. So I think maybe because we're exposed to that so much more, that our threat level is way higher when it comes to polarization. I don't know. What do you think might be driving it?

[00:03:08] I think it's a couple of things, and you touched on them a little bit. First of all, we have a front row seat to everything that's going on, right? And we're this far away from it. That's me showing you how close we are to it. And then we're also paid to look around corners and to see potential problems before they happen. So you combine those two things, and I think it's natural that a PR professional would have a greater sense of concern as opposed to the public who's living their lives. They're not paying attention to these issues the way that we're paying attention

[00:03:38] to them. And I think that might be the reason for this disconnect. That's what I do. Another thought just occurred to me as well, which is last year was the first year of a new administration in the White House following a very divided election cycle that was vicious. So maybe that's a big piece of it as well. At the time that these findings were gathered, the people who engaged in the survey had just gone through all of that. That's possible. But that gap

[00:04:05] is big. And bearing that in mind as counselors, recognizing this may be my perception, this may be how I feel, but if it's not how the public feels and or reflective of how they'll perceive a message from a brand that public relations professional or communication professional works with, then we as communicators need to tone it down, in my opinion, and get much more aligned. It is absolutely. It's kind of on us. That's exactly what I'm saying. Pay attention to that.

[00:04:35] Don't go with your instinct communicator in that way necessarily. Get more in touch with how the general public is perceiving polarization and recalibrate before giving counsel. Pay attention. Read the room. Read the room. I think that's a great way to kind of put a bow on top of that because that's what needs to happen. We're very hypersensitive to what's going on.

[00:05:01] We are consumers of news and information and that sort of thing. Not that the public isn't, but we're paying closer attention. And I think those numbers bear that up. Yeah. Interesting. And there's lots of ways to do that that are at our disposal that didn't exist before that don't necessarily cost a ton of money. Ask the public is one of my favorite. It's free. Or you can see what are the search terms? What are the questions being plugged in

[00:05:25] on a daily basis to LLMs and other sources? Well, go and check yourself there or another resource of your reference before you jump into the deep end. Totally agree. Okay. So here's another finding of note from the report, a generational divide within the profession. So Gen X and baby boomers are most likely to describe polarization as extremely high. Gen Z and millennials align more closely with the general public and are more optimistic about the business

[00:05:52] impact of polarization. This creates an alignment challenge. Senior advisors and junior practitioners may be assessing reputational risk very differently. That's an interesting dynamic. And let's think about the ends where these folks end up, right? So the more we're going to guess here. So Gen X and baby boomers are probably more senior in most organizations at this point. We're just going to guess not necessarily true across the board, but they probably hold the most senior positions

[00:06:20] in a lot of cases. So, and they're perceiving polarization as extremely high yet the younger Gen Z and millennial communication professionals who are more kind of attuned or in sync with, we'll say, at least they're the findings of the survey. They're more aligned with how the general public is seeing polarization. They're all, all four are walking into a room and having a conversation

[00:06:44] about how should this organization respond, you know, to said issue. When the more senior Gen X, of which I am one and baby boomers are, who are receiving things as extremely high when it comes to polarization, they're going to be sounding the alarm if they kind of don't check themselves and really dig into, so what, how does the public feel on this front before giving their counsel? And maybe in

[00:07:11] this, this instance, you know, the more communication professionals who, who hear this on this show or elsewhere will be more receptive to listening to their Gen Z and millennial colleagues. And in this case, they should. Well, I don't want to say that we're overly dramatic people of our age, the Gen Xers as we are, but I would say this, the Gen Xers and the baby boomers have seen a whole lot more. They've seen a lot. And you were talking about politics and we're not going to get into politics, but in terms of polarization, they've seen a lot.

[00:07:38] They've seen, you know, back in the, you know, every, every four years we say, oh, this is the worst I've ever seen. That's just the way it happened. But the thing is the Gen Zers and millennials haven't been through that many election cycles, haven't seen as much polarization. And so perhaps, and I don't want to speak for them because I'm not one of them. Maybe that's not as unusual to them as it might be to somebody who's a little bit older, who's seen things, you know, through a different lens from years ago. And I'm not saying we're living in the past or people of that age are living in the

[00:08:08] past, but they've just seen more. And so if we're going to say, Hey, the Gen Xers and the baby boomers are a little more hypersensitive to the polarization and the folks who are younger, the Gen Zers and millennials aren't, and maybe by virtue of, they just haven't seen, you know, the way things were not that they were better, but just their, their point of reference is a little bit less. And that isn't any of them. Yeah. Yeah. That's a very interesting point of view. I look back and I think about historically, you know, even just in, in the last hundred years,

[00:08:37] the younger generations have typically been, you know, kind of the sounding the rallying cry for change, that they're not satisfied with the, how things, with how things were functioning, whether in government or in administration. But this issue is polarization, which is not necessarily a political issue at all. I mean, it's just how, you know, this Gen Z and millennials perceive,

[00:09:03] are we really divided as a country? So it's fascinating to me that their viewpoint is that it's not as bad as the older generation seems to think that it is. There's something there. There's something there. I don't know what it is, but for practitioner, communication practitioners, what matters is if you fall into Gen X, like Rob and I do, if you're, if you fall into the baby

[00:09:27] boomer generation, recognize that your colleagues who are Gen Z and millennial have a, in, in, on this issue of polarization, their finger is on the pulse a lot better than yours. So pay attention, pay attention. Don't shut them down and give credence to their point of view. If you're facing an issue that has anything to do with polarization. And what you said is so true. I mean, every generation, the younger generation is the generation of change. They want change. You

[00:09:55] remember back when the Gen Xers were like, Oh my God, you kids, you know, what are you doing? Now we're looking at the Gen Zers like, Oh, you kids. It's, I don't, I don't, I'm not dismissing this at all because it's a real issue. Clearly it's in this report. And so it needs to be addressed, but the younger generation is always going to push change. They're always going to have finger on the pulse a little bit better than the older generations. And so that's not a, that's not a new thing. And the Gen Xers and baby boomers probably don't like it,

[00:10:24] but they have to look at it and go, Oh yeah, that that's how it was 30 years ago with us. Yeah, for sure. Young people coming up. Yeah. I just wonder why in this particular issue, polarization, that the younger generations seem to think that it's not so bad when normally their perception is we want change, you know, let's make it different than the way it is now. That's not how I want to live in this country. So it's fascinating to me. Yeah, no, there's no question. Okay. This one, and I know we've talked about a lot on this podcast,

[00:10:53] we talked about corporate advocacy and a few years back, that was a real thing at companies everywhere. Well, it has fallen off a cliff. Let me give you some numbers in 2023, 89% of PR professionals supported companies taking positions on social issues unrelated to their core business. But I remember being on this podcast and saying, Oh, they, you have to take a stand. The marketplace is demanding it. Your employees are demanding it. We had these conversations time

[00:11:20] and again. Well, in 2026, now that numbers drop to 55%. In 2023, 89%. Now 55%. That is a 34 point collapse, a lapse in just three years. What's more, only 42% of the general public believes companies have a responsibility to advocate on unrelated social issues. The report traces the shift back to the post George Floyd moment when sweeping corporate purpose statements came, they became the norm and

[00:11:46] the slow, quiet retreat from that posture ever since. So we remember it. It wasn't that long ago. We were advising clients. I know you got to take a stand. People expect it. And now things have changed. That whole thing of taking a stand and standing for what quote unquote is right. It doesn't exist anymore. Yeah. And it's obvious too. Yeah. That arc was about six years and five,

[00:12:13] I think based on when the data was collected. It was about a five-year arc and the general public, um, and for public relations professionals, but general public is in my opinion is what drove it, um, kind of saw that and just didn't, they didn't like how it felt is what my gut says. And thus, you know, there was a whole lot of pushback on, on both sides of reactions to all kinds of societal,

[00:12:38] um, issues and problems that brands were getting involved in. Um, if it's unrelated to their core business, I think is the key, key language in this finding, this, this one finding that we're talking about that unrelated to their core business, but things like, um, um, the devastation of the national park system, um, and the organizations like Patagonia and R.E.I. and name an outdoor brand,

[00:13:04] you know, um, not stepping up to say something or stepping up to say something, right. That's very recent just in the last six months. Um, that's been a campaign that supporters of outdoor brands and the national parks have, have said, if you don't say something, you have no business selling to this market anymore. So that still remains. Yeah, I know that's there. 100%. Boy, but listen, you just named a few brands that are steeped in this, that can afford to do it. But what if many

[00:13:33] of them did it, if you're like public pressure to get them to do it, that's interesting. What if you're like-minded, you don't have the brand that's that entrenched in that thought process. You're like, what should we do? Uh, this is naturally what we would be doing and we would be appealing to the customers we want to appeal to. Yeah. But man, the way it's been, the way it's been positioned about advocacy and what you stand for and the message that you're sending, those rules

[00:13:59] have changed and they have changed dramatically and the public has spoken. And there, there's a lot of companies out there that were like, Hey, these people were demanding this three, four years ago. And now they're like, yeah, that's, that's jarring. It is. It's a massive, massive shift. No doubt about it. And I'm sure there's a lot more underneath those numbers that we don't have time to dig into today, but encourage our listeners to go and read the summary of the 50 page report. Cause there's some fascinating stuff in there that you might be able to use in your job. We're scratching the

[00:14:27] surface here. This is a 50 page report that we're going to spend 30, 35 minutes on. So there is a lot more to digest than what we're sharing today, but we wanted to bring it to your attention. That's right. So continuing in this theme, um, for another perspective to bring, uh, to everyone's attention from the report is that silence is now considered a strategy, but it's not neutral. Silence as a tactic is increasingly favored, especially by in-house teams and younger

[00:14:55] professionals. Again, fascinating. Right. So the profession is split on posture. 46% prefer a proactive offense oriented communication strategy. 38% believe a defensive approach is now optimal. The warnings from the report silence gets interpreted. Stakeholders fill the vacuum with their own narrative. The question isn't whether to be silent. It's whether you have clear criteria for

[00:15:20] when to speak, when to clarify and when to stay focused on business priorities and just stay out of it. Seems, seems honestly to me, that's just like, duh, you know? Well, no, it is, but there's a couple of things here that they're at play. First of all, I can, I'm always telling people and clients and I'm sure you're doing it too. It's like, if you don't fill, if there is say a crisis situation or your, your one point of view, if you don't share that

[00:15:47] narrative, somebody is going to fill that, that time, that airspace, that column space, whatever it is, they're going to fill it if you don't. So that's always been a pretty solid way to advise clients. But I've also seen people more recently who are good communicators who don't say anything for a while because there's nothing to say. I think that really gets to the point of your last, the last point you were making, when to clarify, when to stay focused, et cetera.

[00:16:12] And then there's something to, and there's something to communicate and they do. I would say in those instances, they may not be as high stakes. You know, if you're in a high stakes situation, if you don't share your part of the story, somebody else is going to define you in their term. Yeah. If it's urgent and high stakes, totally agree with you. But if you're not, if you're not in the middle of something contentious, I don't know if that's the right word, but where you can stay silent, nothing to share, nothing to share, nothing to share

[00:16:39] because you don't have anything to share. And then when you do share it, I'm seeing more of that. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. More and more. The pause has a lot of power when it comes to reactions. And it's being used more. It is as it should, honestly, a more measured approach, but do a lot or a whole lot of things, not just communications. So more measured approach. So this is an interesting one because it comes up all the time and it shows up in this report all the

[00:17:06] time, uh, under kind of different contexts, trust in media. It is still real, but it is fragmented. And so the trust remains, but the public no longer consumes a shared media environment. That means a message delivered through traditional channels no longer reaches audiences the way it once did. That means communicators must account for how narratives travel through AI assistance, algorithmic feeds, platform ecosystems, not just earned media placements. And I will just tell you

[00:17:35] as somebody who was in that earned media space for years, who was being pitched all the time and we're getting on the TV show was a big deal that has shifted dramatically. And I think that's indicative in the way the, you know, the revenue models are now for that business, because there are so many more ways to get to the audience you want to get to, um, targeted. I mean, this is your world at the Harbinger group, you know, digital marketing, but listen, I'll say this. I know when

[00:18:04] you get an, when you get an earned media spot for them, they're like, wait a minute, no, highly you are what I'm saying and suggesting to you is, and I'm not biting the hand that once fed me. I'm just being honest. Um, those rules have changed. I tell clients all the time, don't focus so much on this, this, this big earned media moment with a very generalist audience, which means there may be most people who may hear your pitch or your story or whatever your client is doing. And it's like, that doesn't, that's not relevant to me as opposed to, I'm going to

[00:18:31] hyper-target areas where I know that audience is going to respond. I just, I think that's the way things are going now. Yeah. Especially when it comes to how, um, answers are generated in large learning model platforms. What do they draw from? Um, they do give high credibility to, um, major media, but they also are looking for, is your brand consistent, um, in all of the key marketplaces to

[00:19:00] back up how you appeared in the media outlet. And another thing I'll say is so meaning I'll just finish that thought. Um, if your, your bio on LinkedIn and your content on LinkedIn are not consistent and about those topics that you're also being interviewed about in the media, you know, you're kind of doing yourself this huge disservice because the value of that media inclusion for your

[00:19:23] brand for your thought leadership is diminished. So do the homework to make sure that how you and your brand are, are represented and how your experts particularly who represent your brand, um, look in their LinkedIn profile, their bios on your website. I'll think of all the other content places where their fingerprints, um, would be present and go make sure it's all aligned and

[00:19:48] consistent and is focused on the most important stuff that you want people to hear your company say, or your experts say, do that work because then every time you get an earned media placement, it's going to have, you know, be like a hundred X in its value. But another thing to remember is earned media now has, there's a critical element of the power of inclusion in earned media, which is recency. So if you're resting on a ton of media coverage, you had a year, you know,

[00:20:16] more than a year ago, uh, that value is almost completely gone when it comes to answer engines now. And remember that people are getting their information at a staggering rate now, like 55% of the time solely through answer engines like chat and others. So you can't pretend that this isn't happening. You got to do all that work that I just described. And as communicators,

[00:20:39] you need to be forcing your spokespeople and C-suite to understand this. They, I don't care if they don't want to know you be the person who stands up time and time again this year and says, we're going to fix this. And you're going to see how valuable this effort is to us because if we do nothing in six months, traffic to our website will be completely gone. People will only be getting

[00:21:03] information about us through answer engine sources and they're searching things that we're not paying attention to right now. So you be the hero and walk in there and tell them we're doing this. Here's why you'd fire me in six months. If nothing comes of it, but I guarantee you a lot will come of that work. And I'll just back up what you were saying about what you, the way you convey your message on sale LinkedIn, because as you know, for me, there's two things. It's Rob Johnson

[00:21:29] Communications. It's, it's all the things around surrounding that. That's what a lot of my social content's about. And it's also the book over communicate that I released in April. And so I spent time with my marketing guy from the publisher really sprucing up the, that part of the LinkedIn, because that's what I'm talking about all the time. That's the, that's the, that's, that's not the message. It's one of the big messages. So it needs to be, here's what I'm doing for clients at Rob Johnson Communications. And here's what over communicate stands for.

[00:21:57] And it's so much heavier on that. Now, I think it's driving home the point that you were just sharing, which is what you did six months ago, nine months ago, whatever that is, that is eternity ago. That's like, that's like ancient history. What are you doing now? And are the things you're posting about the things you're writing about the things that you're conveying to the audience that's there? Is it consistent with what you're doing in a day in and day out basis? And so I will just say, having just gone through that about, Hey man, you gotta, here's what you need to do here. Here's what

[00:22:26] you need to do in this section to beef up the over communication part, because that is a big thing about what I'm doing now. It is not the only thing, but it's a big thing and it needs to be indicated. That's right. Consistency is clarity. Remember that these days, consistency is clarity. And if you're not looking consistent, that is your company, your spokespeople, your experts, all that you're totally hurting yourself when it comes to inclusion and all of those platforms.

[00:22:51] All right. Okay. We got to move on here. So as we wrap up, we want you to know that the report goes far deeper than what we were able to cover today, but we will make sure that in our show notes, the link to the report is included as well as the summary of the report. And I got a couple other articles too that I'll toss in there that are kind of other people's perspectives, people, you know, we admire and respect. They had some great takes on this report as well. So we'll include that.

[00:23:20] That's a great idea. And that's going to do it for another edition of Can You Hear Me? I'm Rob Johnson. If you'd like to comment on the podcast or suggest a topic, please contact us at our Can You Hear Me podcast page or check out our newsletter. Both are on LinkedIn. We have the Can You Hear Me podcast LinkedIn page. And please check out our website at canyouhearmepod.beam.ly. We'll leave that address and all the relevant information in our show notes as well.

[00:23:45] Hey, okay. So I'm Eileen Rochford. If you liked what you heard, please consider giving our show, Can You Hear Me? a positive review wherever you get your podcasts such as Apple or Spotify, because your great reviews help other people find our show. And that's what we're looking for. Thanks everybody.