In an ever-evolving world of technology, media has reasserted its commitment to accuracy

Against a backdrop of artificial intelligence (AI) proliferation; the creator-fication of news; ad-based streaming; personalised, digital-first ecosystems; and the decline in traditional news viewership, our industry has displayed a remarkable capacity to coalesce around shared, foundational values – in a manner we have not seen for some time.

The first and second quarters of 2026 have been effervescent with activity in the field of AI. In late February, a coalition of UK media companies – the BBC, the Financial Times, the Guardian, Sky News, and Telegraph Media Group (TMG) – urged industry peers to back global frameworks ensuring AI firms pay for the journalism they use. The NATO for news, this coalition, known as SPUR (Standards for Publisher Usage Rights), intends to preserve original journalism and secure the long-term sustainability of the industry.

By mid-March, technology secretary, Liz Kendall, had signalled that the UK government would backtrack on its plans to let AI firms use copyright-protected works without permission – a welcome development for writers and creators of all kinds. On 12 May, Thomson Reuters boss, Steve Hasker, waded into the debate and declared that the organisation’s AI licensing deals would only involve archive text, with news feed, video, images and audio off the table.

IPSO’s timely ruling

The licencing piece is just one part of the AI puzzle. Another challenge posed to the long-term viability of our industry is the tendency of large language models (LLMs) to leave inaccuracies and inequities in their results. These come in the form of hallucinations, bias amplification, and an inability to field ethical nuance.

Issues around journalistic integrity were thrust into the spotlight in early March, when the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) found The Telegraph had breached the accuracy clause of the Editors' Code of Practice, in running an article exploring the impact of private school fee increases on a named couple and their children. Complainants argued that the family referenced and pictured does not exist.

While there was no suggestion that AI played a part in this misstep, the episode did shine a light on the potential for time-saving methods and tools to dilute journalistic rigour. This is a bind only exacerbated by the ever-contracting size of newsrooms.

Following the IPSO ruling, our fair institute and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) issued a joint statement calling for a renewed industry commitment to accuracy, care, scrutiny, and professional judgement. Indeed, adherence to established codes is foundational to maintaining public confidence in both journalism and public relations – especially with an information zone blighted by AI-fuelled misinformation, disinformation, and the waning of public trust.

Our President, Gerald Bowey, said: "When respected media organisations get caught like this, it should encourage everyone to sit up and take notice. Newsrooms are getting smaller and journalists are under immense pressure, not just to fill pages with quality stories, but also to weed out untrustworthy material from the torrent of increasingly complex, tangled information and data coming at them with speed and scale."

The CIPR’s President, Farzana Baduel, added: “Trust is the cornerstone of credible journalism and ethical public relations alike…The scrutiny on our work, the speed that information now travels, and the resources available to us create a recipe that is potentially damaging to public trust and the ability to do our jobs effectively.”

In an era of data overload and public scepticism, when unscrupulous actors – be they individuals, organisations, or intelligent systems – seek to mislead or politicise the news agenda, those responsible for pitching stories and reporting on them must stay hyper-vigilant. The Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIOJ) has formally re-committed to helping members navigate these waters, with training, resources, and peer guidance.

The AI kitemark

One of our headline initiatives to this effect is the CIoJ’s AI kitemark proposal, which was tabled at the 2025 AGM and further developed in Q1 2026, in the wake of strong member support.

The resolution, which recommends that Ofcom, IPSO and IMPRESS should encourage media publishers to provide a kitemark when AI has been used in the creation of journalistic content, seeks to hand consumers greater transparency – as well as assurances that intelligent tools have been wielded responsibly.

On 3 March 2026, the CIoJ successfully convened leaders of the UK media industry to explore the merits and challenges of this idea. The roundtable, which took place at the Reform Club in Pall Mall, was Chaired by Lord Guy Black of Brentwood, Deputy Chairman at Telegraph Media Group, and a regular speaker in the House of Lords on press and media freedom. Along with the CIoJ were representatives from CIPR, the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA), the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Society of Editors, News Media Association, the Professional Publishers Association, and Women in Journalism.

Never have such influential bodies from the UK media landscape been brought together in such comprehensive number. The roundtable adjourned on the agreement that audience trust must be defended in the face of a rapidly evolving technology landscape, and participants committed to continuing the dialogue on AI.

On 12 April, my letter to the editor of The Observer was published in the Sunday paper, which set down the CIOJ’s position on developing a standardised, industry-wide response to the risk of AI-induced plagiarism and misinformation.

Establishing guardrails

On the motorway of innovation, it is the white lines – the guardrails – that ensure all travellers reach their destination safely and efficiently.

Today, it is vital that as journalists we hold two concepts in our heads at the same time. One, that AI offers transformational opportunity, especially when it comes to research and information gathering, content production, and audience engagement. And two, that these benefits may only be delivered safely if we come together – as an industry – and workshop novel structures for managing AI. New tools demand new techniques.

In the run up to the CIoJ’s 2026 AGM, the AI debate will no doubt remain at the top of the agenda. The two issues that will always transcend industrial change, however, is the CIoJ’s unfaltering commitment to its members and the craft of journalism.