Beyond the Noise - the PRWeek podcast

In a Pride Month special, PRWeek UK speaks to two prominent LGBTQ+ PR professionals on the comms industry’s progress, as well as analysing what ‘corporate pride’ looks like in 2026.

Christina Peach, director at FleishmanHillard and head of comms for London Pride 2026, is our guest on this week’s podcast, alongside Josh Wheeler, founder of Be Broadcast PR and head of comms at InterComms, the network for LGBTQ+ PR professionals.

Beyond the Noise looks at some of the biggest communications and PR issues. Download the podcast via Apple, Spotify, or on your favourite platform.

The guests dissect the finding that the majority of LGBTQ+ comms professionals do not feel there are visible or vocal role models within the industry, and about half believe LGBTQ+ practitioners become less open about their identity as they become more senior.

Speaking to PRWeek deputy news editor Evie Barrett, Peach and Wheeler also discuss the effects of big businesses scaling back their DEI initiatives, giving examples of organisations that they believe engage authentically with Pride Month.

The guests offer tips to employers on being more inclusive, as well as advice to PR professionals struggling to be open about their identity in the workplace.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do people in the space sector think they have a comms problem and yet the public at large think space is sexy? Should we stop evangelising about the technology that gets stuff into space rather than the core marketing message? After all, KFC is about the chicken not the trucks that deliver it.

What are the leadership opportunities in the UK from launch in Scotland and what is the “environmental conscience” behind that endeavour? And how did we end up with kids in St Austell working on global lunar space missions on the back of a famous “failure”?

Join Alice, Jess Ratty from Halo Global and John Harrington UK editor of PR Week, as they confront the introspection of space and figure out better ways of confounding British understatement and amazing a world of would-be investors.

Contributors:
Alice Bunn, President of UKspace
Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn
UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Jess Ratty, Founder and Leader, Halo Global
Jess Ratty | LinkedIn

John Harrington, UK Editor, PR Week
John Harrington | LinkedIn
PR Week UK

Key topics covered:
Communications
Marketing
Leadership opportunities
Saxa Vord launch
Environment
Spaceport Cornwall
Virgin Orbit’s “Start me Up” mission

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nils Leonard, co-founder of renowned ad agency Uncommon, is a guest on this week’s PRWeek Beyond the Noise podcast episode – speaking alongside Randy Manicks, managing partner of the firm’s PR arm.

The Uncommon leaders discuss how the firm’s PR, Culture & Influence practice – which launched in February – has performed so far.

Leonard discusses how he caused a stir in the PR industry by setting out his ambition to “carve out a new space in a tired category” with the launch of Uncommon’s PR offer.

Speaking with PRWeek UK deputy news editor Evie Barrett, he explains how he believes traditional PR agencies could improve their offer, and reveals the types of briefs that Uncommon’s PR division has worked on so far.

Meanwhile, Manicks, a former managing director at comms agency John Doe, dissects the difference between working at a traditional PR firm versus a creative agency that has expanded into PR.

Elsewhere, the pair argue that more PR agencies should be boosting their own profile with independent projects alongside launching client work.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In each episode of the new podcast series Am I the PR A***hole? (AITPRA), PRWeek will read out your anonymous PR confessions and our judges – Lynn Advisory founder Shayoni Lynn and Hoffman Agency UK co-MD Richard Fogg – will decide whether an ethical line has been crossed. Confessions can be submitted via this link.

This week’s confessions include:
Purposely uploading unflattering images to a press portal
Pitching the same ‘exclusive’ to two rival newspapers
Asking juniors to sort travel admin
And finally… booking a destructive thrash techno band for a credit card launch.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How should public affairs and political comms in the UK navigate political upheaval? PRWeek’s latest podcast takes a look.

This week’s episode of Beyond the Noise features Damion Potter, executive chairman, public affairs in the UK, at H/Advisors; Emily Fermor, partner at Hanbury Strategy and chair of the PRCA Public Affairs Professional Board; and Fraser Raleigh, MD, public affairs and government relations, at SEC Newgate.

Beyond the Noise looks at some of the biggest issues affecting communications and PR. Download the podcast via Apple, Spotify, or listen on your favourite platform.

As Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer faces his first proper challenge as Labour leader since coming to office, our guests discuss how their workload has changed since the crisis began following the elections on 7 May.

They talk about what clients have been looking for specifically in this period of uncertainty and how they know which politicians, spads and civil servants to target in particular.

Speaking to PRWeek UK editor John Harrington, they discuss whether they think the expected leadership challengers are likely to be more or less amenable to businesses and lobbying should they come to power. How the Starmer government has differed from expectations from a public affairs perspective, and how this has changed over time, is also examined.

The guests also give their perspective on how they think the political crisis might end – and whether Starmer will last the distance.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.