Asking 10 public relations professionals to narrow down their favourite news stories from 2025 is easier said than done. As a group of experts who spend their days consuming, analysing and mining the media for client opportunities, we cover a lot of ground. So we challenged our team to reveal which news stories from 2025 have truly stayed with them.
Whilst you might feel that the biggest headlines of last year were captured by extreme weather, major conflict, global leadership, technology, sports or culture, here’s what BlueSky’s communications specialists identified…
A Fortune piece was chosen by Chloë Lane who said: “I enjoyed reading this article about why voice notes could be the cure to Gen-Z’s phone anxiety. Featuring insights from Maxted Neal, a psychology and management professor at Hult International Business School, the article offered some interesting insights about the future of communication and why being comfortable with old-fashioned phone calls might soon become a job applicant’s USP.”
Whilst Olivia Nieberg said that one of her favourites looked at how inclusive, collaborative learning can turn classrooms into trusting communities. It was an article by Chiedza Mutsaka Skyum from beVisioneers titled “How to design learning experiences to heal division” in Times Higher Education.
For Alex Lopez, he could really relate to an article in The Telegraph that looked at the negative impact of flexible working, which featured INSEAD’s Winnie Jiang.
“Routine is important!” He said.
“With Russian interference in Europe only growing,” said Thomas Willis when highlighting the article that stood out for him in 2025, “this piece felt like an important corrective. In the Guardian, where the new German chancellor could very feasibly see this op-ed by a top political science and international relations professor and be influenced by it, it felt like an important moment over the summer, one which could genuinely shift the political dial.”
It was a brilliant piece of media coverage that BlueSky had delivered for a client and tapped into current events.
Just like this 2025 article in the Financial Times that Peter Remon has selected as sticking in his mind.
“With Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency,” he said, “hostility toward companies prioritising sustainability, DEI, and international employment has intensified. Many US business schools have scaled back sustainability and DEI initiatives amid fears of funding cuts or political backlash. Against this backdrop, it is encouraging to see European business schools doubling down on sustainability, DEI, accessibility, and inclusive environments for international students.”
Alex also highlighted a Financial Times article on the AI skills that employers want and that business schools teach because it was such a compelling piece of coverage that tapped into a huge topic of the year.
“This coverage features great comment from Tom Vazdar from OPIT – Open Institute of Technology,” said Kyle Grizzell, “exploring the risks of the 2025 trend where users generated an AI action figure of themselves based on their characteristics and details. I found this coverage particularly insightful as I saw people participating in this trend all over LinkedIn (and participated myself!) but hadn’t even considered the privacy issues. It genuinely made me rethink how I use AI.”
Articles like that can really stick with you!
For Lucy Whytock, her favourite news story of 2025 was this LA Times article “which looked into how planting enough trees to offset the world’s biggest oil and gas companies’ emissions isn’t realistic, as a study showed we’d need a forest larger than North America just to balance the carbon in their reserves.
“I enjoyed the article as it reframed the climate conversation - rather than offering simple solutions, it highlighted the limits of carbon offsets and showed that tackling climate change means big organisations need to be held accountable. And change starts at cutting emissions at the source, not just absorbing carbon later.”
Lucy shared that that perspective shift makes the story both memorable and meaningful.
“This is up there as being one of the most compelling pieces I read in 2025,” said Jonny Stone about a Fortune article on struggling female founders, “as it shines a light on such a pervasive barrier for so many aspiring entrepreneurs - but also highlights the responsibility of educators to address this challenge.”
Whilst Kerry Ruffle highlighted a BBC article that resulted from a viral BlueSky press release for Durham University Business School.
“This is what happens when you can share research in the right way (it’s inherently human, speaks to real issues and offers advice/guidance on how to improve circumstances), but this particular piece spawned loads of translations across the BBC network in the following months, so it amassed a huge audience beyond typical reach. It was fantastic to be able to do this for the academic,” she said.
For many people, the majority of news we consume is around the topics we care about.
Kyle enjoys keeping up-to-date with recent news on scientific advancements, he said: “Last year there was a news story that claimed dire wolves have been brought back from extinction – which sounds incredibly impressive alone, but wasn’t really the full story. I really like this piece in the BBC because it explores the reality of that claim, bringing in insights from experts on the subject.”
As a huge sports fan, Adam Kelly-Moore said that his favourite headlines from last year were:
1. BBC Sport: 'A creative and explosive talent' - Eze signs for Arsenal
“England international and Crystal Palace star, Eberechi Eze, signed for his boyhood club in dramatic fashion in the summer. When all pundits had Eze all but certainly signing for cross town rivals Spurs, Arsenal swooped in last minute to ensure the international star signed for the best team in London. He since scored a hat-trick in the North London Derby against Spurs.”
2. Stuff NZ: ‘It epitomised who he is’: Ardie Savea the All Blacks’ hero in his 100th test
“Back in September the All Blacks not only managed to extend their Eden Park consecutive unbeaten record to 50 test matches, starting back in 1994, but it was against NZ’s biggest rivals and world number 1, the Springboks. To top it off it was All Black and all-round Kiwi legend Ardie Savea’s 100th cap for his country. A great day to be kiwi rugby fan all round.”
And, finally, Jamie Hose reminds us all that it’s worth engaging in positive news stories as he highlights a BBC news article on an impressive artist trying to recreate the Bayeux Tapestry.
“I want to highlight this local news story for a couple of reasons. First, I think this is an excellent example of what a profile piece should be: it’s about a person demonstrating considerable skill in an interesting and niche area. Second, it’s an uplifting read about someone sharing their passion and engaging with history,” he said.
“In 2025, a lot of the headlines focused on negative news, which is still important for us to stay informed about. However, I’d argue it’s still important for people to read positive stories such as this one about Mia Hansson to act as a counterweight to the negative stories. Relentless negativity can put people off keeping up with current events (a 2024 study finds that 39% of people worldwide sometimes or often actively avoid the news).”
If you’d like to help create media coverage that stays with people, get in touch with us today.
Author: Stephanie Mullins-Wiles
Stephanie has extensive experience in managing communications outreach for business schools and universities around the world, working with recognised names such as; HEC Paris, Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, & ESMT Berlin. Stephanie is a formally-trained journalist, judge for the Association of MBAs (AMBA) Excellence Awards, a popular blogger for the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), and also writes on business education for the Economist.