NMA CEO Calls For Creative Sectors To Rally Under Make It Fair Banner
Creators must continue to rally under the Make it Fair campaign banner to stop government selling the creative sectors down the river for a “short-term, AI-powered sugar rush”, News Media Association chief executive Owen Meredith has said.
In a speech opening the Press Awards last night, Owen told an audience of hundreds of journalists and editors, “if AI wants to use your works to make their outputs better, they should damn well pay for it.”
Owen paid tribute to journalists across the world who have lost their lives while performing their duties, as repressive regimes increasingly resort to physical violence and intimidation to keep the truth hidden from view.
“Here in the UK, we are fortunate to live in a country where journalists can operate without the fear of coming to physical harm at the hands of the state,” Owen said. “But we cannot be complacent – there is still much to be done to make our country a better place for journalists to live and work in.
“At the NMA we continue to fight for you – for press freedom, and sustainability.
“The Make it Fair campaign – which you’ll see feature on the screens tonight, saw titles come together to run the same powerful front page across national, regional and local titles – with one simple message; as an industry, we embrace AI, but we will not let the government sell our creative sectors down the river for a short-term, AI-powered sugar rush.
“Journalism matters. Human creativity matters. If AI wants to use your works to make their outputs better, they should damn well pay for it.”
Hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the awards started with a Outstanding Contribution Award for photographer Arthur Edwards who this year marks 50 years on the staff at The Sun. A host of awards were handed out including the coveted Daily Newspaper of the Year which was won by The Times.
In his speech, Owen said that widespread use of copyright material had already occurred but government appears to be content to allow AI firms to continue to get away with handling stolen goods with no consequences.
He added: “We must all continue to rally under the Make it Fair banner to resist this. This is not a battle of tech vs creatives – a fair and functioning licensing market would enable both the creative sectors and the AI firms to flourish together.
“Good journalism, quality journalism, true journalism costs money. It’s only fair that those who wish to benefit from that work pay for it, rather than getting a free ride on the back of our investment in agenda-setting journalism.”
Owen paid tribute to investigative journalist Andrew Norfolk, who died recently at the age of just 60, saying that his legacy of shining a light on grave injustices would live on for many years.
“In our increasingly uncertain and unstable world, the role of journalism is more important than ever before,” Owen added. “The more lies and distortion bad actors use to try and blind us to the truth, the more we need trustworthy sources of information.
“Tonight is a celebration of the critical importance of your work to our democratic way of life. Without your journalism, we would all be cast into darkness.”