Announcement: The SPUR Coalition welcomes 30 new members.
Read the press release below

The SPUR Coalition

Shaping the rules, standards and infrastructure that enable publishers and AI platforms to do business.

The SPUR Coalition welcomes 30 new members

3 June 2026

The SPUR Coalition welcomes 30 new members in a major international expansion announced at the World News Media Congress in Marseille.

Today, the SPUR Coalition announced a major expansion with 30 new members joining from across the global journalism sector. The announcement, made at WAN-IFRA’s World News Media Congress, marks the most significant moment in the coalition's growth since its public launch at the end of February, and signals that publisher-led action on AI is consolidating into a coordinated, international movement.

The group includes a new founding member, CMA Media, joining from France. Jean-Christophe Tortora, Deputy CEO of CMA Media, said: ‘By joining SPUR at board level, we are making a clear commitment to collective international action. The exceptional success of the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress in Marseille demonstrates that the world’s leading publishers are determined to open a new chapter in their relationship with technology platforms and public authorities: a ‘new deal’ based on fair value sharing, content protection, and the defence of reliable and independent journalism in the age of artificial intelligence.’

SPUR will also welcome two new global affiliate organisations: WAN-IFRA/FIPP and the European Publishers Council (EPC). 

Joining as standard members are: a cohort of leading Canadian media organisations: The Globe and Mail, Quebecor, Postmedia, Torstar, CBC/Radio-Canada, La Presse and TVO Media Education Group. Alongside them are: SIPA Ouest-France Group, Ringier, Citywire, Sanoma Media Finland, Der Standard, Bonnier News and FD Mediagroep.

Affiliate members will include: Digital Content Next (DCN), the Association of Online Publishers (AOP), Independent Publishers Alliance, Newsworks, the News/Media Alliance (NMA US), Independent Media Association (IMA), News Media Canada, the Hungarian Publishers’ Association, Hebdos Québec, the PPA (Professional Publishers Association) and PPA Magnetic.

SPUR will also welcome associate members: Times Higher Education, RNZ and AML Intelligence. 

With these additions, SPUR will bring together 36 publishers and affiliate organisations to develop a market ecosystem that works for both publishers and AI developers. The coalition is inviting journalism organisations around the world to join in shaping how AI develops on terms that are fair, transparent and sustainable for the sector.

Anna Bateson, CEO of Guardian Media Group, one of SPUR’s founding members, said: ‘Welcoming 30 new members, including our first founding member from France, gives SPUR the scale required to turn its mission into a global mandate. This collective strength will help legitimise the standards we create, safeguarding the intellectual property of publishers and providing AI developers with a route to scalable, sustainable licensing.’

Stig Ørskov, CEO of WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers and one of SPUR’s new global affiliate organisations, said: ‘Announcing the significant expansion of SPUR at the World News Media Congress - the world’s largest gathering of news media leaders - underscores the importance of this initiative. WAN-IFRA strongly believes that collective publisher action is essential to creating a fair and workable AI licensing market. The global news industry should be an active participant in shaping standards for the AI era, and our affiliation with SPUR marks an important step in that direction.’

Angela Mills-Wade, the Executive Director of the European Publishers Council, said: ‘Generative AI presents significant opportunities, but it must not be built on the uncompensated use of professionally produced journalism. Publishers need effective tools to exercise their rights, meaningful transparency regarding the use of their content, and functioning markets through which value can be fairly exchanged. The European Publishers Council is pleased to join the SPUR Coalition and contribute to the development of standards that support transparency, accountability and sustainable licensing practices. The future of AI and the future of quality journalism must develop together’.

SPUR's founding members - the BBC, Financial Times, Guardian Media Group, Sky News, Telegraph Media Group and Mediahuis - welcome the new cohort and will work alongside them on the coalition's technical, strategic and engagement priorities.

Since launch, SPUR has made significant progress on its telemetry work: the technical infrastructure that enables publishers to see, in real time, how AI systems are using their content. The SPUR telemetry standard, which has been developed with SPUR members and technical partners, offers a framework for collaboration between content owners, AI platforms and intermediaries. We expect to launch the standard soon and will set out further details shortly.

We are grateful to WAN-IFRA/FIPP and the wider journalism community for their convening role in announcing this pivotal moment for the sector, and look forward to welcoming our new members very soon.

Publishers and affiliated organisations interested in joining SPUR can get in touch at info@spurcoalition.org.

An Open Letter to Our Fellow Leaders in Global Media

From:

Tim Davie,BBC Director-General
Jon Slade,CEO,Financial Times
Anna Bateson,CEO, The Guardian
David Rhodes,Executive Chairman, Sky News
Anna Jones,CEO, Telegraph Media Group

March 2026

We write to you at a pivotal moment for our industry.

We invite you – global leaders across publishing, broadcasting, media and news – to join us as founding members of a new coalition: SPUR - the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights coalition.

Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping how content is created, distributed, discovered and monetised. We believe we need to come together to protect original journalism and secure the long-term sustainability of our industry.

AI brings opportunities for publishers and our audience. Our organisations are already at the forefront of using AI in responsible ways to benefit our audiences. But AI also raises urgent questions about fairness, consent, attribution, transparency and trust.

Across the industry, our reporting, our archives, our original content, have become foundational training material for AI systems. This material has been scraped, copied and reused with no common standards to enable permission or payment, weakening the economic model that supports journalism. The lack of transparency about how AI answers are created risks eroding public trust in both the news and the technologies used to access it.

SPUR’s mission is clear: to establish shared technical standards and responsible licensing frameworks that ensure AI developers can access high quality, reliable journalism in legitimate, responsible and convenient ways, while guaranteeing that publishers retain practical control of their content and receive fair value when it is used.

The coalition will:

  • Develop shared industry standards, creating responsible pathways for original journalism to be used sustainably

  • Reduce friction in licensing and bridge the gap between publishers and AI developers

  • Identify gaps in the technical tools needed to protect intellectual property, and support their creation

  • Ensure high value content can be accessed through rights cleared, accountable channels

  • Evaluate existing industry infrastructure and assess where new technologies or approaches are needed

  • Enable transparent, scalable use of journalistic content

For more than two centuries, media organisations have invested in journalism and newsgathering that underpin informed, connected societies. Our work strengthens democracy, empowers citizens, and holds those in power to account. This contribution rests not only on our reach, but on the standards that sustain it: editorial accuracy, accountability and trust. Trust earned over decades.

This is a global challenge, and SPUR’s ambition is to be a global coalition. Working across the industry, we can build systems that respect original reporting, uphold public trust, and enable both journalism and AI to thrive. Together, we will work with tech companies to adopt responsible, rights-cleared pathways to journalistic content, and with policymakers to build a modern regulatory framework that protects publisher rights and sets clear expectations for responsible AI development.

Our goal is to help shape a market that rewards original reporting and supports responsible AI innovation.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

David Rhodes
Executive Chairman, Sky News

Anna Jones
CEO, Telegraph Media Group

Anna Bateson
CEO, The Guardian

Tim Davie
BBC Director-General

Jon Slade
CEO, Financial Times

To learn more or to express interest in joining The Spur Coalition, contact info@spurcoalition.org

For media enquiries, contact
media.enquiries@spurcoalition.org

Mediahuis joins the SPUR Coalition as founding member

11th May 2026

The SPUR Coalition is pleased to welcome Mediahuis as a founding member.

Mediahuis, one of Europe’s leading news publishers, will join the existing founders - the BBC, Financial Times, Guardian Media Group, Sky News and Telegraph Media Group - in working to shape the rules, standards and infrastructure that enable publishers and AI platforms to do business on fair, transparent terms.

Gert Ysebaert, CEO of Mediahuis group, said:

“The SPUR Coalition addresses one of the key challenges facing our industry today: ensuring that quality journalism is used responsibly in the development of AI. Shared technical standards, licensing frameworks and reliable measurement tools are essential to secure a fair and transparent value exchange for our content. I believe this is a defining moment for European publishers as well, to join forces so that together we can actively shape how our journalism is used.”

The challenges SPUR was formed to address are global in nature, and require a global response: The unlicensed use of journalistic content in AI models, the lack of transparency in how AI systems use publisher content, and the absence of common standards for permission and payment are eroding the value of the journalism sector. Mediahuis joining as a founder member reflects SPUR's ambition to operate as a truly international coalition in addressing these issues.

Since its launch in March 2026, the SPUR Coalition has progressed technical work to enable the granular tracking of content usage online, with the aim of establishing industry standards. In the coming months, the Coalition will continue developing approaches to reducing friction in licensing, identifying gaps in the technical tools needed to protect intellectual property, and ensuring that high-value journalistic content can be accessed through rights-cleared, accountable channels.

SPUR has attracted significant interest from journalism-based media companies globally and will make further announcements about its membership in the coming weeks. Publishers whose primary activity is the creation of original journalism are encouraged to get in touch to learn more, via info@spurcoalition.org.

Notes to editors

About the SPUR Coalition: The SPUR Coalition (Standards for Publisher Usage Rights) is a non-profit coalition of news publishers established to shape the technical and commercial environment within which IP owners can control and monitor the use of their content by generative AI applications. Founding members are the BBC, Financial Times, Guardian Media Group, Mediahuis, Sky News and Telegraph Media Group. The coalition is funded by its members.

About Mediahuis: Mediahuis is one of the leading media groups in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia. As a publisher, Mediahuis has an unwavering belief in independent journalism and in strong, relevant media that make a positive contribution to people and society. Since its foundation in 2013, Mediahuis has built a highly diversified portfolio of national and regional news brands, reaching more than 10 million readers every day, both digitally and in print.

Media enquiries:

SPUR Coalition: media.enquiries@spurcoalition.org

Mediahuis: an.steylemans@mediahuis.be

Founder members

International SPUR members

FAQs

The project now working on eight work streams with input and advice from members, participants and the Coalition team.

Membership is being expanded and is open to all organisations globally whose primary activity is the creation of original journalism.

  • SPUR is an industry coalition initiated by organisations that invest in the creation of original journalism. Its aims are to shape the technical and commercial environment within which IP owners can control and monitor the use of their content by generative AI applications. SPUR will work to ensure that media owners can exercise their rights and if they choose to license, ensure the transparent flow of data that will allow them to secure a fair exchange of value for use of their work across the generative AI value chain.

  • The founding partners are the BBC, Financial Times, Sky News, Guardian Media Group and Telegraph Media Group. We are seeking to increase this group as the project progresses and invite interested news organisations to get in touch.

  • Professionally-produced journalism is currently being taken from the open internet without permission or payment, to be used for AI training, fine-tuning and to ground generative AI models in real time. We recognise that better solutions to manage this activity are needed to protect the economic foundation of journalism and improve the transparency of AI output. SPUR aims to help shape technical and commercial infrastructure in ways that deliver and support efficient marketplaces where content can be licensed on fair commercial terms.

  • The issues that have led to the formation of SPUR equally apply to other categories of digital content. At this stage, SPUR coalition members are focused on journalistic content only, but the coalition is open to expansion  to other media sectors. 


  • The SPUR team is talking to a range of organisations about joining the coalition. Trade bodies can apply for affiliate membership and individual news organisations can apply for membership under our membership framework. We invite any organisations interested in joining the coalition to get in touch. 

  • No. The issues that SPUR is seeking to shape  are global, which means that the most effective solution will be one which works for businesses across the world.

  • The coalition has been 100% funded to date by the initial founders. Membership fees will provide additional funding in future. SPUR is a non-profit project funded by members.


  • We will move at pace. The project will announce key milestones  in phases over the coming months.

  • SPUR will engage extensively with the buy-side of the market to ensure our solution creates value for AI licensees. We invite any developers who may wish to engage with the coalition to contact us directly.

  • SPUR is not a collective licensing organisation. Its focus is developing recommended standards and defining best practice. Founders and members will retain full autonomy over their own commercial relationships.