In an era when artificial intelligence devours news for free, the world's press has gathered to debate "fair value for news" and "the survival of journalism."
The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) opened the 77th World News Media Congress (WNMC) on June 1 at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille, France, under the slogan "Rising Voices. Emerging Risks. Inspiring Futures."
In the opening keynote, A.G. Sulzberger, chairman and publisher of The New York Times, denounced AI companies for "brazenly committing intellectual property theft on an unprecedented scale." He sharply criticized Big Tech firms for "scraping news sites without permission or compensation and reselling what they have stolen as if it were their own." The NYT, one of the premium outlets most heavily used to train AI, has been pursuing a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for more than two years.
"AI is built on four pillars: talent, computing power, electricity and data," Sulzberger said. "They pay enormous sums for talent, compute and power, but take news content — which they call 'data' — for free." He added, "The combined market value of the top six AI companies stands at $11 trillion, more than three times France's GDP. It's not that they can't afford to pay."
Sulzberger offered four remedies for journalism's survival: news organizations must assert their rightful claims, negotiate carefully with Big Tech, push for legislation, and stand together as an industry. He proposed, in effect, a "New Deal" among publishers, Big Tech and policymakers.
He made clear, however, that he is not opposed to AI. AI can become a powerful tool, he stressed, as long as journalists remain the arbiters of judgment.
This year's congress brings together leading global media figures, including Guardian Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner and Wall Street Journal Publisher Almar Latour, alongside Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch and European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen. Sulzberger and WAN-IFRA are urging publishers, Big Tech and policymakers to forge "A New Deal for Journalism" on how to share the value created by AI. Over three days, attendees will explore survival strategies for the AI era through 16 sessions covering three themes: AI in Media, the Future of Journalism, and Revenue and Growth.
A ceremony asking what journalism is truly worth followed on the opening day. The Golden Pen of Freedom, the highest honor in press freedom, was awarded to the photo and video journalists of Gaza. The message: even as AI appears to replicate and generate everything, it can never produce the original records, the facts and the images that journalists secure on the ground at the cost of their lives. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that 264 journalists have been killed in the conflict, the highest toll since it began tracking in 1992.
Korean media will also take the stage at this year's congress on the survival of journalism in the AI era. On the evening of Thursday, the second day, Seoul Economic Daily will compete in the global finals of the Digital Media Awards (DMA) at the same venue, with "AI LINK" and "AI PRISM" vying for top honors against The New York Times and the Financial Times. The two projects offer Seoul Economic Daily's own answers to the congress's central question: how to deliver better journalism with AI. It marks the first time a Korean news outlet has reached the DMA finals.
WAN-IFRA, with newspaper associations from more than 60 countries and some 20,000 member companies across more than 120 countries, is the world's largest media organization, holding consultative status with the United Nations and the Council of Europe and associate status with UNESCO.
