IMA - Independent Media Association

Below is UNESCO's draft Guidance on Fair Compensation for News (June 2026), a companion to its 2023 Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms. The document looks at how journalism can receive a fairer share of the value it creates when digital platforms and AI companies use it.

A coalition of independent publishers is urging the UK's Competition and Markets Authority to rethink its approach to Google's AI Overviews, arguing the regulator's new conduct requirements leave a fundamental competition problem unresolved. The letter, sent on 10 July by law firm Preiskel & Co, was submitted on behalf of the Independent Media Association, the Independent Publishers Alliance, Impress Media and the Movement for an Open Web to the CMA's Search SMS case team. .

Three overlapping conferences took place in Geneva two weeks ago, all circling the same question: who gets to decide how artificial intelligence is governed. The UN's first Global Dialogue on AI Governance, a new standing forum created by General Assembly resolution, is running alongside the ITU's AI for Good Summit and the WSIS Forum.

The Independent Media Association welcomes the government's recognition that private monopolies are shaping what people see, and that this is contributing to disinformation, outrage-driven virality, isolation and addiction. However, we are disappointed that the green paper does not adequately address the needs of independent, regulated non-broadcast media.

In December, the government launched its BBC Royal Charter review. Then in January, the Minister for Media, Lisa Nandy, wrote back to the coalition of civil society groups who had asked for genuine democratic participation in the process, and offered them a meeting with DCMS officials. The consultation, he noted, was open to anyone, and the government would carefully consider all responses.

The Movement for an Open Web (MOW) has launched the Search Only Contract (SOC), a free website usage contract that lets publishers charge AI companies for harvesting their content. The contract sits in a site's Robots.txt file or footer, and when an AI crawler visits the site it is treated as having agreed to the terms. Normal search indexing is allowed, and so is human non-commercial reading.

This week has shown, in the starkest possible terms, what happens when a platform's reporting and complaints systems don't work. In the wake of the Belfast riots, posts celebrating attacks on immigrants' homes were circulated on X, fuelling violence on the streets and leaving people too frightened to go to work. At the same time, Ofcom has a formal investigation open into X over its Grok AI chatbot being used to generate and share illegal sexual imagery, including child sexual abuse material.

Recent years have seen a growing number of collective bargaining initiatives aimed at securing sustainable funding for independent news outlets. While each model reflects its local media ecosystem, several common threads emerge – transparency, proportional distribution and a focus on supporting smaller or minority‑serving publishers.

We’re excited to start spotlighting the amazing work happening across our network. By sharing members’ achievements, projects and stories, we hope to amplify their impact and rally broader support for independent journalism. This first roundup pulls together highlights from both December 2025 and January 2026. In December, The Prisma released a bilingual (Spanish & English) special edition dedicated to migration.

As we step into 2026, the IMA is deep in the trenches shaping the future of our sector. Over the past few weeks we’ve been immersed in strategy, design, research and networking - all aimed at laying the groundwork for a more resilient, community‑focused media ecosystem. It’s been a pretty hectic start, but also a genuinely exciting one. Below is a snapshot of where we are and what lies ahead.