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“NATO for News”: Is a Joint Effort by Media Companies the Way to Go in the Age of AI?
“NATO for News”: Is a Joint Effort by Media Companies the Way to Go in the Age of AI?
The impact of artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, on the media and entertainment industries was a topic of debate at the Media & Telecoms 2025 & Beyond Conference in London on Tuesday. And some industry executives suggested that an alliance of media players could be the best strategy to protect copyright and open up opportunities for media companies in the AI age.
Organized by Deloitte and Enders Analysis, Tuesday’s event included a panel entitled “News and media in the AI age,” featuring panelists Anna Bateson, CEO of Guardian Media Group, Rich Caccappolo, CEO of DMG Media, Anna Jones CEO of the Telegraph Media Group, which has agreed to be acquired by RedBird, Jon Slade, the CEO of the Financial Times, and ITN CEO Rachel Corp.
Bateson emphasized that it was wrong to assume that a “compromise” on existing copyright and intellectual property protections was needed to ensure technological innovation, including in the AI space.
Jones argued that media companies could “collaborate on our own technology” to ensure control and opportunities rather than deep-pocketed technology giants taking advantage of media firms’ content. Corp echoed that, sharing: “We want to protect our brands while working together.”
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp last year struck a deal with OpenAI that industry folks have paid much attention to. The Guardian Media Group reached a similar deal earlier this year. And RedBird, in recently unveiling a deal for the Telegraph Media Group, also cited AI as an opportunity, at least in the form of “artificial intelligence tools to expand the value proposition to its core subscriber base and potential new subscribers.”
Slade brought a comparison to an international defense alliance into play at that stage. “Someone described it as a kind of NATO for news,” he said. “At the moment, we’re all spending an enormous amount of money, each incremental to last year’s budget, in just trying to hold stuff back. So there’s a good argument for a lot more collaboration around all aspects.”
Meanwhile, “we haven’t signed any [AI] deals yet,” Caccappolo shared. “We are ready. We are willing to do it.” But he emphasized that the terms have to be right and copyright has to be valued.
Would he be up for a “NATO for news”? “I hadn’t used that terms before, but that might be the thing that cracks open the dam,” he suggested. “What I’m most interested in now is a way for us to prove that if AI companies work with us, we can help train their models faster, more efficiently, more accurately. And that’s worth something, and that should be the catalyst.”
The panelists on Tuesday also agreed that a proposed opt-out rule in the U.K. approach to AI, allowing AI companies to use copyrighted works unless the holder actively opts out, is not the right approach. Instead, they agreed that an opt-in approach should be used.
The panel came after Lisa Nandy, U.K. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, promised the London media conference earlier in the day that the government was focused on a win-win approach to AI policies and regulation. “We are determined to find a way forward that works for the creative industry and creators, as well as the tech industries,” she said.
Later in the conference day, Vanessa Kingori, managing director of technology, media, and telecoms at Google, will also discuss AI.
Tuesday’s conference also featured top executives from the likes of the Walt Disney Co., the U.K. public broadcaster BBC, streaming giant Netflix, and Comcast-owned Sky and Sky Studios.