Does AI have a place in the newsroom?

A new AI deal that centres AI in the Australian media sector has once again raised questions about the viability of journalism as a job in 2026 and how workers should be protected.

Further to the newly announced AI licensing deal between Microsoft and Nine that will allow Copilot to summarise the work of the broadcaster’s journalists, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has urged big tech and the federal government to work towards ongoing support for employees in the sector.

As recently reported, the proposed News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) – which would require tech companies to make deals that would see journalists receive revenue when their work is featured on associated platforms – continues to face criticism from big tech and smaller, independent or regional news outlets.

According to the MEAA, the latest – and APAC-first – deal risks marginalising an already embattled profession, as AI continues to dissolve journalism opportunities in Australia.

As part of its ongoing campaign for increased insulation of the sector and its workers against devastating impacts of AI and a shifting media landscape, the union noted that human journalists play a crucial role in supporting society and democracy – more so than ever in an age of misinformation.

In the same vein, the union outlined that journalists are the workers who give such deals value – without the work itself, there would be no content to license. Journalists, she continued, deserve to know the details of any agreement before it is set in motion.

In this way, MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley urged that any deals impacting journalists would support journalists.

She said: “Transparency and consultation with workers should be common practice; otherwise, the benefits of AI will continue to flow back to technology companies and media corporations, rather than the workers who research and write the quality stories that inform Australians.

“Journalists and media workers deserve fair compensation when their work is used by big tech to power their AI tools, and we need comprehensive policy that ensures that happens across the industry.”

However, this has brought up another issue: who owns the copyright once AI is in the equation?

Earlier this year, the MEAA launched a bid for equitable remuneration (ER) to be extended to AI creations, which is already “driving job losses, undercutting incomes and hollowing out Australia’s creative and media industries”.

In light of the latest bolstering of AI capabilities, the calls have been renewed.

“The introduction of equitable remuneration into Australian copyright law would ensure the value created by all creative and media workers is compensated,” Madeley said.

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