On Message

Journalists in the US have won a legal ruling against the rollout of AI tools in their industry. The News Not Slop campaign scored a victory against Axel Springer, publisher of Politico, after editorial staff on the website took their employer to arbitration complaining AI was doing their jobs. The dispute centred on the ‘Live Summaries’ feature used during the 2024 Democratic Convention. The arbitrator ruled: ‘Live Summaries were posted in prime “above-the-scroll” homepage placements without human editing, outside the normal content system, and were not corrected despite containing factual errors, missing context, and violations of Politico’s Stylebook.’

Lord Rothermere has agreed to buy the Daily Telegraph. The Daily Mail proprietor is fulfilling a long-held ambition. At a stroke, a large swathe of Middle Britain falls under his purview.

Sky Sports’ new TikTok channel lasted three days – proving that ignoring your audience can be fatal. The backlash was swift and brutal, calling it tone-deaf. Lesson? KYA: Know Your Audience. Always.

The BBC’s failure to swiftly apologise for a misleading edit of Donald Trump’s speech has turned a single broadcast blunder into a full-blown crisis. What began as an avoidable error now threatens the corporation’s credibility, leadership, and legal standing.

Jaguar Land Rover’s five-week shutdown exposed the catastrophic cost of cyber complacency. Beyond IT fixes, reputational damage lingers. Boards must lead, comms must be watertight, and readiness must be relentless—because the next breach is inevitable. 

AI has transformed communications, but overreliance erodes trust. Corporations own their narratives to control reputation and outpace AI-driven misinformation.