Today, on 28 September, WACC joins newsrooms and communication rights advocates worldwide in marking World News Day with the call to choose – and advocate for – trusted journalism.

Democracy needs journalism. Strong, independent journalism. So, when the rapid advancement of generative AI threatens journalism, it is a threat to democracy and democratic values itself.

According to Reporters Sans Frontiers just 0.8% of the world lives in a country with a fully free press. A survey from the Reuters Institute showed that only 38% of media leaders worldwide feel confident about journalism’s future.

While there are multiple crises facing traditional journalism, it seems that generative AI is only accelerating what was already underway and creating new problems for the Fourth Estate.

At a recent event in Brussels, journalists, diplomats, policy specialists, and AI companies came together to discuss the impact of AI on journalism. One thing was clear, the pressure exerted by AI on journalism is causing traditional media business models to collapse.

When people seek news and information from AI chatbots or LLMs, just 4% of that traffic clicks through to the original source. This means that media outlets are producing content used by AI but are getting almost nothing in return.

As one participant put it, journalism cannot afford to be an objective bystander to its own decline. It has to actively decide what it does next.

The coercion problem

Journalists and researchers name a clear power imbalance between AI companies and media outlets.

Partnership agreements do exist with major outlets, especially in the Global North, but many smaller publishers and most smaller language markets are left out entirely. While one major European language market, like Germany, gets a deal, neighbouring Belgium with just 6 million Dutch speakers is forgotten.

Many media outlets push back against “take-it-or-leave-it” terms that are set by multi–billion euro tech companies that already hold the capital and the audience. It feels like coercion dressed up as partnership.

But the true power does lie in the hands of journalists, reporters, and traditional media outlets and must be far better leveraged. AI companies need trustworthy journalism to avoid so-called AI slop and hallucinations. As the internet is increasingly populated with AI generated content, quality, reliable, and human-authored texts grow in value.

Yet AI companies treat access to trustworthy journalism as a favour they are extending rather than a resource they depend on. Compensation, when it exists, tends to be framed narrowly as payment for displaying longer excerpts, not as recognition that journalism is democratic infrastructure, not a commodity.

Majority of the world is left out

Publishers in many places throughout the world – especially in the Global South – do not have the bargaining power that outlets in wealthier or more powerful countries do. Major AI companies, like those who develop ChatGPT and Claude AI, have few or no agreements with publishers in Africa, for example.

Even when grassroots efforts are made to bring together media outlets for greater bargaining power, ultimately AI companies decide who gets a deal and who doesn’t.

This leaves a handful of companies from only a few countries, with incredible power over journalism through direct impact on its business model. AI can essentially cut news websites out of web traffic, use journalistic content for free in generating answers and training AI models – all without a single cent being passed on to the journalists and media outlets who made it possible.

What civil society should do

While the challenges are momentous, they are far from unsolvable.

• First, insist that AI-media relationships are fundamentally about democracy, not capitalism. Advocacy groups, journalism associations, and researchers have to make a clear case for the public that journalism is not content generation and is worth more than any AI compensation structure might suggest.
• Second, support collective bargaining models for smaller and under-resourced outlets. Individual publishers, especially outside wealthier or more powerful regions, cannot negotiate alone against trillion-dollar companies. Building strong coalitions is essential.
• Third, push governments and international bodies to treat AI regulation as a commitment to media freedom and human rights.
• Fourth, advocate relentlessly for transparency from platforms about how journalistic content is used and compensated. Push for real disclosure with facts and figures.

Democracy cannot survive without journalism – strong, independent journalism – and right now in particular journalism needs democratic communication speaking up in its defense. Researchers, journalists, policymakers, and the public must raise their voices, urgently, before the terms are already set.