The Future of News
Summary
This panel discussion at SXSW 2026, titled "The Future of News," brings together three senior media executives — Betsy Reid (The Guardian US), Jennifer Cunningham (Newsweek), and Rebecca Grossman-Cohen (The New York Times) — moderated by Jill Zuckman, to discuss the survival, reinvention, and democratic importance of journalism in an era of rapid disruption. The session covers revenue diversification, AI's dual role as tool and threat, editorial independence, attacks on press freedom, industry-wide layoffs, and the long-term challenge of rebuilding public trust in journalism.
On the business model front, each outlet has charted a distinct path. The Guardian operates without a paywall, relying instead on voluntary reader contributions that now generate approximately $58 million in the US alone and $140 million globally, comprising the bulk of its revenue. The New York Times has scaled to nearly 13 million digital subscribers, with 50–100 million weekly visitors and 150 million registered users, anchored by a bundle strategy combining news with lifestyle products like Wirecutter, NYT Cooking, Games (Wordle, Connections, Crossplay), and a new vertical video feed. In 2025, the Times reported 20% growth in digital ad revenue. Newsweek has pursued aggressive diversification across subscriptions, events, rankings, and a B2B healthcare vertical, while positioning itself as an independent, centrist outlet.
The AI conversation was substantive and multidimensional. All three outlets embraced AI as a productivity tool for journalists — Newsweek branded their internal AI suite "Martin" (after founder Jay Thomas Martin), which helps reporters move faster while keeping them focused on sourcing and field reporting. The Times has deployed AI for large-scale data analysis, compressing story development timelines from a year to weeks or even days. However, all three panelists drew firm lines around human editorial oversight: no content is published without human review, and all journalism remains written by human reporters. On the IP front, the Times is pursuing lawsuits against AI platforms for using its content without permission while simultaneously negotiating licensing deals; the Guardian and Newsweek are also in ongoing negotiations. The panelists flagged "AI slop" — the proliferation of low-quality, AI-generated misinformation — as a major threat to public trust, and argued that trusted journalistic brands with verified, human-authored content will become more valuable as a result.
The panel also addressed the deteriorating political climate for journalism head-on. Moderator Zuckman catalogued a pattern of gendered attacks by President Trump on women journalists — calling reporters "ugly," "nasty," "stupid," "rotten," and a "sleazebag" — and panelists discussed the real-world costs: heightened reporter stress, editorial dilemmas about whether to include vitriolic non-responses as part of the public record, and physical safety risks including journalists having people show up at their homes. All three outlets described moving away from a posture of letting journalism speak for itself toward actively defending reporters in public communications. The Times specifically cited suing the Department of Defense as a new and necessary escalation. On industry-wide layoffs, Jennifer Cunningham cited a Reuters Institute stat that 17,000 journalism roles were eliminated in 2025 alone, making journalism among the most distressed white-collar industries in the US. The Washington Post's elimination of all foreign correspondents was singled out as particularly alarming given the scale of ongoing global conflicts. The panelists expressed concern about a pipeline problem: if entry-level and local journalism jobs disappear, the next generation of national and international journalists will not be trained.
Key Takeaways
- •The Guardian US generates approximately $58 million annually from voluntary reader contributions — with no paywall — and $140 million globally, proving that reader-funded journalism at scale is viable without coercive subscription gates.
- •The New York Times has nearly 13 million digital subscribers, 150 million registered users, and 50–100 million weekly visitors; its digital ad revenue grew 20% in 2025, driven by new lifestyle products and ad formats in games and vertical video.
- •Newsweek cited a Reuters Institute figure that 17,000 journalism roles were eliminated in 2025, making journalism one of the most distressed white-collar industries in the United States.
- •All three news organizations use AI as an internal productivity tool — the Times uses it to compress data-heavy investigative timelines from a year to weeks; Newsweek's internal suite is called 'Martin' — but maintain strict human editorial oversight and do not publish AI-generated content.
- •The New York Times is pursuing dual-track IP enforcement: active litigation against AI platforms that used its content without permission, alongside negotiated licensing deals; they argue AI platforms 'never had permission' to use their content.
- •The Guardian's ownership structure — a 200-year-old trust (the Scott Trust) whose sole mission is to preserve journalism in perpetuity — was held up as a model of editorial independence that protects against the billionaire-owner conflicts visible at the Washington Post and CBS.
- •Rebecca Grossman-Cohen noted that approximately 30% of the New York Times audience is already Gen Z, countering the assumption that younger audiences are unreachable; all three outlets identified social platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) as the primary on-ramp, with the goal of converting social engagement into direct subscriptions.
- •President Trump's gendered attacks on women journalists — publicly calling reporters 'ugly,' 'nasty,' 'rotten,' 'stupid,' and 'sleazebag' — have created a measurable chilling effect on the broader industry, with panelists citing capitulation by some media owners to political pressure as evidence of real impact.
Transcript
Okay. Well, thank you, Greg. Really appreciate that introduction. I'm I'm Jill Zuckman. I'm really thrilled to be joined by three remarkable women. um Betsy Reid, Jennifer Cunningham, and Rebecca Grossman Cohen. Um and we've got a lot to talk about today, but we also want to have a conversation with you, so we're going to have plenty of time for questions. Um, so much has been happening recently, recently over the last year when it comes to journalism, when it comes to how news organizations are...
