As publishers across Europe and beyond grapple with AI’s impact on the news business, Financial Times CEO Jon Slade has set out a clear proposition that closely aligns with the News Media Coalition’s advocacy: the more abundant machine-made “content” becomes, the more valuable professional human decision-making becomes.
Across two recent public appearances—one focused on newsroom strategy and another on business models—Slade argues that the industry’s competitive edge will not come from chasing cheaper production, but from doubling down on the capabilities that the qualities of quality journalism.
For the NMC this means Primary Source Journalism (PSJ): witness-based reporting, verification, editorial standards, and accountability for what is published.
At the News in the Digital Age summit in London, Slade framed human editorial judgement as the key marker of quality in an environment saturated with synthetic text. In his formulation, “human judgment” becomes the “differentiating factor” when audiences are confronted with an abundance of AI-generated material.
This matters for PSJ because the value is not simply in producing words or images, but in responsibly deciding what is true, what is newsworthy, what is safe to publish, what needs corroboration, and what should be challenged. These decisions sit at the heart of public-interest journalism—and they are inseparable from professional responsibility.
Slade’s wider point is that journalism has survived every major technological disruption by retaining those fundamentals. The toolset evolves; the duty does not.
He also pointed to AI’s potential to accelerate reporting in specific contexts: for example, analysing large volumes of information quickly, and helping newsrooms separate signal from noise. Used responsibly, these capabilities can support PSJ by expanding journalists’ capacity to find patterns, test hypotheses and interrogate data—while keeping editorial accountability firmly in human hands.
That distinction—assistance versus substitution—is central. PSJ depends on attribution, verification, professional ethics and liability: the ability to stand behind what is published and to correct it transparently when errors occur.
For PSJ, this is the real risk-line: AI-driven distribution systems can weaken the relationship between the public and independent journalism by inserting intermediaries that summarise, remix or replace original reporting—without clear accountability, and often without audiences even knowing what they are consuming.
Slade’s warning about “synthetic authority” is therefore directly relevant to policymakers and regulators: if the environment rewards cheap imitation and opaque summarisation, the market signal shifts away from original newsgathering and towards scale and automation.
In his second appearance—speaking at The Definitive AI Forum—Slade again returned to first principles: the industry response should be rooted in original journalism and brand value. “Neither of those are technology solutions,” he said, describing them instead as “responses to a technology issue.”
He then moved to the economic mechanics. Slade outlined the range of licensing agreements now emerging across the market, but stressed that sustainability depends on securing repeatable value—“recurring revenue”—rather than one-off arrangements that leave publishers exposed as the technology and distribution environment rapidly shifts.
This is where his remarks connect to a major NMC policy and advocacy theme: value exchange. Slade linked this directly to the need for AI partnerships and products to recognise the value of original reporting, arguing the system must “reward original, authentic human judgement and labour in journalism.” This is particularly relevant for PSJ,
where cost is concentrated in reporting, access, verification, safety, legal risk, and the editorial infrastructure that makes publication credible.
Slade also emphasised control and transparency in deals, including what he called “The Big Red Button”—the ability to halt access and surfacing if the publisher is not satisfied with how content is being used. The underlying principle is straightforward: without enforceable control, “partnerships” can become extraction mechanisms.
Slade’s remarks reinforce a core NMC position: that Primary Source Journalism is distinguished by accountable human judgement and verification. As he put it, “As AI-generated text becomes more abundant, human judgment becomes the differentiating factor in the news ecosystem,” and “AI must serve journalism, not the other way around.” NMC members believe that policy and market practice should ensure AI systems reward and strengthen independent newsgathering—rather than displacing it or weakening incentives to produce original reporting.
