How could AI be regulated to protect journalism?

This article is based on DW Akademie's new publication "Securing the future of journalism in the age of AI: A strategic roadmap" by Rose Kimani and Attila Mong. It builds on the discussions of the "The Next Chapter: Journalism in the Age of AI" event series. 

Besides regulation, the publication also takes a close look at how policymakers and other players can support collective action, reduce dependencies on Big Tech and empower journalists for better coverage of AI and tech topics. 

Key Takeaways 

• AI regulation should be rooted in human rights, especially freedom of expression and access to reliable information.  
• Governments should make sure that news organizations are fairly compensated when AI systems use their content.  
• Public-interest journalism should be treated as critical democratic infrastructure. 
• Regional approaches often provide more leverage than individual national regulations when dealing with Big Tech companies.
• Digital sovereignty, including local AI models, language preservation and data governance, is becoming a major policy priority worldwide. 

Why does AI regulation matter for journalism? 

Public interest journalism plays a core role in upholding democracy. When journalism becomes less visible and viable, citizens' access to reliable information, accountability and democratic oversight suffer. 

Currently, the balance of power in the digital public sphere is off: Power is increasingly in the hands of a small number of technology companies. These platforms shape what becomes visible and receives attention online, while transparency remains limited. At the same time, they increasingly control the data, distribution and monetization. That leaves news organizations with little bargaining power or compensation.  

AI intensifies the crisis in journalism's sustainability: AI-powered search, recommendation systems and generative AI tools rely on journalistic content. They also reshape how people access information, often delivering answers, summaries and recommendations without directing users to original news sources. The consequences are felt most acutely by smaller, local, nonprofit, minority-language and independent media. 

Yet most countries still lack legislation and regulation that explicitly address the growing influence of Big Tech platforms and AI on independent media and the wider information environment.  

To protect media pluralism and a diverse, healthy information ecosystem, it is necessary to develop and strengthen governance approaches for AI and digital platforms. 

Guiding principles for AI regulation 

So, which actions could and should policymakers take? 

Policymakers should keep these three guiding principles in mind:  

• Legislation should be grounded in a human rights approach – including the right to information and freedom of expression. 
• Legislation must not be misused to oppress independent media. 
• Public-interest media should be considered critical infrastructure and a public good. They should be supported accordingly. 

Five recommendations for policymakers 

1. Build on what’s already there!

There have been efforts to create norms and standards that protect freedom of expression and address mis- and disinformation. Examples are: 

• The 2023 UNESCO guidelines for the governance of digital platformsrecommend that digital platforms be transparent, accountable and align their content curation and moderation practices to international human rights standards — and that states enact and enforce legislation in line with the same standards. 
• The 2025 OSCE policy manualoffers comprehensive guidelines for supporting media viability and funding models for public interest information and protecting the online safety of journalists. 
• The African Union's Continental AI Strategy could be used as a basis to develop an overarching policy document addressing questions of digital sovereignty and catering for low-resource languages.
• The UNESCO's 2026 draft guidance on fair compensation for news outlines the roles of various actors. It includes recommendations on competition law, legal frameworks defining media’s rights, harmonization of approaches across jurisdictions and the recognition of journalism as a public good that needs support beyond market mechanisms.

2. Don’t only write it down, enforce it!  

Governments need to treat journalism as a democratic and security infrastructure, not just as part of the cultural sector. 

Research in 2026 on the value of journalism illustrates the importance of public-interest journalism in strengthening economies, enhancing national security and navigating crises. To protect public-interest journalism, governments should enforce existing laws on privacy, copyright, product liability and competition against AI firms. 

Policies should contribute to redesigning markets so that journalism is compensated for and protected. Relatedly, funders and media development organizations should push for laws and policies that create a fairer playing field such as collective bargaining standards, data rights and licensing mechanisms. 

3. Put your money where your mouth is! 

Public interest journalism should not only be treated as a public good but also financed like one. The state’s role could include subsidizing public interest journalism through, for example, putting in place mechanisms to levy a portion of Big Tech’s advertising revenue and redistribute it to public interest media. 

Other strategies that governments may employ include setting up innovation funds that can support local outlets with small grants, as well as prioritizing the development of infrastructure that enhances the operations of public interest media

4. Think regionally!  

Ideally, the rules of the playing field should be defined regionally or globally, because individual countries may not have enough leverage to negotiate with huge tech firms. 

At the same time, there is ongoing debate over whether AI should be governed through binding regulation or shared principles and voluntary standards. 

• While laws can be more enforceable, they may also be misused to restrict independent journalism and free expression.  
• Principles offer greater flexibility but often lack accountability mechanisms. 

The challenge is to hold powerful actors accountable while safeguarding media freedom.

5. Keep an eye out for less visible aspects and new developments! 

AI and Big Tech's impact on the information ecosystem has many layers and is constantly changing. AI crawling is a well-defined area of concern, but there are more. Two examples: 

Cloud services are also monopolized by a few companies. 

This concentration allows providers to charge high prices for cloud services. Platforms that limit users in their choice of other software and make it difficult to move data hinder media organizations from switching providers. The resulting dependence can be particularly costly for investigative journalism. 

Policy makers can counter this by forcing cloud service providers to allow interoperability and protect the data rights of users.  

Another tier of the information ecosystem is the "middlemen":  companies that have come up with technical solutions to give media organizations more control over the scraping of their content by AI crawlers. These companies let media organizations opt in or out of having their content scraped. Where they do opt in, the intermediary company charges tech companies a fee, which is passed on to the publishers. 

While this offers a faster alternative to legislation, a 2026 study found that such intermediaries often retain 15-50% of publishers' revenues. The risk: an extractive licensing model that further reduces publishers' earnings. 

To address this, policy makers should urgently establish market rules that stop emerging new monopolies by intermediary parties.  

Dive deeper 

The challenges posed by AI-driven information systems and the growing power of global technology platforms cannot be addressed through regulation alone. Many of the proposed responses require stronger coordination and coalition-building across sectors and regions.

Download the publication "Securing the future of journalism in the age of AI: A strategic roadmap" here to dive deeper into the topic! 

FAQ 

What is AI regulation? 

AI regulation means laws and governance measures designed to ensure AI systems support human rights like freedom of expression, as well as media freedom, transparency, diversity and fair compensation for content creators.  

Why do news organizations want compensation from AI companies? 

AI systems often rely on journalistic content for training, retrieval and summarization. Publishers argue they should receive compensation because their content – which is usually verified and high quality - contributes economic value to AI products.

What is digital sovereignty? 

Digital sovereignty is the ability to shape digital infrastructure, AI systems and data governance according to local priorities, languages and democratic values.  

Should AI be regulated globally or nationally? 

Many experts favor regional or international approaches because individual countries often have limited leverage when negotiating with global technology companies. 

Can regulation harm journalism? 

Poorly designed laws can be misused to restrict media freedom. This is why many experts recommend grounding AI governance in international human rights standards and strong safeguards for independent journalism.