AI Search Has Made Earned Media Important

Part 3 in a series exploring how to navigate AI’s influence on your communication. Read the other articles in the series:

Paul Frick: Last week Avoq’s UI/UX expert Mimi Tan shared her expert insight into how AI accumulates and presents information about organizations and people. We heard that one go-to source for AI is earned media, making it smart to prioritize in communications strategies.

So talking to Avoq’s resident earned media expert is our logical next move. Mike Melia is a veteran journalist (PBS, CNN), a Peabody and Emmy award winner, and Avoq’s Media Team leader. He’s agreed to help us understand how to think about engaging earned media with AI search results in mind. So I put the question to Mike…

Paul Frick: Mike, the media used to be the main intermediary between organizations and the public. Then “owned media” gave organizations more ways to control their own story, effectively going around earned media. Now AI is becoming another place people go for information. What does that do to the relevance of earned media?

Earned media is becoming more valuable. The way we measure that value needs to change.

Since I’ve been a reporter, people have relied on journalists to help understand organizations, industries and complicated issues. Then digital platforms gave organizations the ability to tell their own stories directly through websites, social media and other owned channels.

But now AI is changing the equation again. Increasingly, people are asking AI tools questions they might once have taken to a search engine, a news website or directly to an organization.

That gives earned media a potentially powerful second life. A well-reported story becomes part of the information AI systems draw from when answering questions about an organization months or even years later. In that sense, an earned media story can shape what people know about you for months or years into the future.

And independent reporting brings something owned content cannot provide on its own: external validation that AI models value and emphasize.

Okay, AI is now another layer between organizations and the people they want to reach. From an earned media perspective, how does that change the way communicators need to think about strategy?

Media is an ecosystem, and we need to think about it that way. Owned media establishes the foundation: who an organization is, what it does and what it stands for. That requires accessible, authoritative content—clear fact sheets, questions and answers, executive perspectives, original research and consistent explanations of complicated issues.

Earned media builds on that foundation through independent reporting, outside perspectives and credibility that an organization cannot simply give itself.

AI is compiling what it finds and presenting it to us in the form of search results. So the strategic implication is two fold. First our strategies—if they aren’t already—have to broaden to include ALL the forms of earned media AI might encounter. Second, because AI looks for consistency by comparing information across platforms, your AI results are more likely to be reflected in AI-generated answers.

That means we can no longer treat media outlets as separate channels operating independently. The key is consistency. If an organization tells one story on its website, another in media interviews and something different through its executives, we’re making it harder for AI—and people—to understand it.

This also means thinking beyond individual placements. We need to ask whether the stories we’re generating establish a clear, credible understanding of an organization over time.

The goal is to build a narrative that holds together wherever an AI model encounters it—whether that’s a news story, a company website, a podcast or an AI-generated answer.

Do you have a sense of how much weight AI gives to news coverage? What should communicators understand about the role reporting plays?

We don’t know precisely how every AI model weighs different sources, and the answer can vary depending on the platform, the question and whether the system is retrieving current information or drawing on what it learned during training.

We do know that credible reporting is an important part of the information environment these systems can draw from.

A company can say it’s innovative, trustworthy or a leader in its field. But when a respected journalist examines its work, interviews its leaders and reports on it independently, that creates higher-value content.

Separately, because journalists often provide context, competing perspectives and independent verification, their work can help AI systems present a more complete picture of an organization.

That doesn’t mean every article will influence an AI response, or that positive coverage guarantees a positive answer. Independent journalism can validate an organization’s claims, challenge them or expose shortcomings.

It reinforces something communicators have always understood: Credibility matters. And with AI credible, substantive journalism now has influence far beyond its original audience.

Not all coverage is created equal, is it? When you are building the information record AI may draw from, what matters most: the authority of the outlet, the relevance of the story, the consistency of coverage or recency?

All four matter, but relevance and authority are where I would start.

A substantive story in a respected publication that directly addresses what an organization does, why it matters and how it operates is likely to be more useful than a passing mention in a much larger outlet.

That means the traditional approach of chasing the biggest possible audience isn’t always the right one. A deeply reported story in a respected trade publication may provide more relevant information about a company than a brief mention on national television.

Consistency matters, too. When multiple credible sources independently report on an organization over time, they help establish a more complete public record. That’s different from simply repeating the same talking points across dozens of outlets.

And timing is especially important when the question involves leadership changes, new products, financial performance or other developments where outdated information can quickly become misleading.

The goal should be to generate the most meaningful, authoritative and relevant coverage—and make sure it remains accurate over time.

What about alternative media, like Substack? Seems like this is the era of influencers and other new media voices. Are they part of the media ecosystem you are describing? Do their posts and content become part of the record AI draws from?

Absolutely. And this is one of the most interesting developments in the media landscape.

Influencers, independent journalists, podcasters, Substack writers and other creators are increasingly producing substantive reporting, analysis and commentary. Their content can become part of the information AI systems encounter, particularly when it’s publicly accessible and indexed or included in sources available to those systems.

That doesn’t mean every Instagram post or TikTok video will be incorporated into an AI response. Accessibility, format, platform restrictions and the ability to retrieve content all matter.

The larger point is that authority is no longer defined exclusively by traditional media organizations.

A respected industry newsletter, an independent journalist’s Substack or a podcast hosted by a credible expert may be among the most influential sources on a particular subject.

For communicators, that means we need to broaden our understanding of earned media. We should identify the voices that are genuinely shaping conversations, whether they work at a major newspaper, publish independently or have built a trusted audience through social platforms.

The question to ask is whether a strategy is generating credible, useful information that people—and potentially AI systems—turn to for understanding.

If you were advising a communicator trying to influence how an organization shows up in AI-generated answers, what are the three most important things you would tell them to do?

First, get your own house in order.

Make sure your owned content is clear, accurate, authoritative and easy to find. That means more than a polished homepage. Develop useful fact sheets, straightforward questions and answers, executive biographies, original research and clear explanations of your organization’s work. Keep that information current and consistent.

If an AI system—or a journalist—comes looking for information about your organization, make it easy to find reliable answers.

Second, invest in credible earned media.

Don’t just chase mentions or impressions. Build relationships with journalists, researchers, industry experts and creators who are genuinely shaping the conversation around your organization.

Give media access to knowledgeable people, reliable data and compelling stories. Independent reporting can provide context and validation that your owned channels cannot deliver on their own.

And remember that a substantive story may continue to have value long after its original publication.

Third, start measuring what AI is actually saying about you.

Ask leading AI platforms the questions that matter most to your organization. What are you known for? Who are the leaders in your industry? How are you different from competitors? What challenges or controversies are associated with your brand?

Track the answers over time. Are they accurate? Are your core messages showing up? What sources are being cited? Is recent coverage appearing in responses?

We can’t assume one article will change what an AI model says, and we can’t control every answer. We can identify gaps, correct inaccuracies in our own materials and build a more authoritative public record.

Ultimately, the fundamentals of good communications haven’t changed. Tell a clear story. Support it with credible information. Build relationships with people others trust. What’s changed is that AI has become another place where all of that work comes together—and another audience we need to plan for. And it has given added weight to earned media’s influence.