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In Marseille, France, approximately 30 media outlets from Europe and North America gathered on Wednesday to join a coalition initiated by the BBC, Sky News, and The Guardian. Their goal is to secure equitable compensation from major artificial intelligence companies for news content. New members joining the SPUR Coalition include CMA Media from France, Ringier from Switzerland, and Canadian organizations such as The Globe and Mail and CBC/Radio Canada.
CMA deputy chief Jean-Christophe Tortora emphasized, “The world’s top publishers are committed to forging a new relationship with technology platforms and policymakers.” He advocates for a “new deal” that emphasizes fair profit sharing, safeguarding content, and promoting independent journalism.
Founded by prominent organizations like the BBC, Financial Times, Guardian Media Group, Sky News, Telegraph Media, and Belgium’s Mediahuis — which operates across several European countries — SPUR aims to address the challenges posed by AI to traditional news businesses. Tortora urged French President Emmanuel Macron to raise these issues at the upcoming G7 summit in Evian.
The three-day WAN-IFRA conference was largely focused on fears within the media industry over whether their business models can withstand the rapid rise of AI. Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, stated that “tech giants are mining news websites without permission or compensation to train large language models.”
SPUR, an acronym for Standards for Publisher Usage Rights, contends that news outlets invest heavily in producing content and should receive fair compensation when AI companies utilize their materials. One of the coalition’s primary objectives is to develop tools that enable publishers to track and measure how their content is being used by AI systems. Additionally, discussions are underway about establishing licensing frameworks for news organizations to monetize their content.
Guardian Media CEO and SPUR co-founder Anna Bateson highlighted the importance of expanding the coalition: “Welcoming 30 new members gives SPUR the size and influence needed to turn its mission into a global initiative. Our collective strength will help create credible standards, protect publishers’ intellectual property, and provide AI developers with sustainable licensing options.”
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