The Signal

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. This week: deconstructing New York Times Chairman and Publisher A.G. Sulzberger's keynote speech, "AI, Journalism, and the Uncertain Future of the Public Square," delivered at the World News Media Congress in Marseille.What are the double-standards at play? Is the news industry treating the sources of its own stories properly, and what exactly is the transaction between journalist and source? As LLMs use news organisations' stories, who has access to that value, and how does Fair Use factor in? And what about freelancers, paid once for work that gets used forever - how, if at all, does that value move back to them?Will news organisations "joining together," as with SPUR, actually help - or is it years too late? And can the industry take the risks and be bold enough to catch new audiences and new opportunities, rather than looking backwards and feeling slighted as it gets left behind?If you want to understand how news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders, practical thinking on the future of journalism, and honest conversations about what's working and what isn't, subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Rob FitzpatrickEdited by James Bullock

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. Fergus and Tom are in Marseille at the World News Congress and in this episode they talk to Olalla Maria Novoa Ojea, the Head of AI at Prisa Media, the world's largest Spanish and Portuguese-language media and entertainment group.Olalla is a working journalist, not a tech evangelist, who's spent her career inside the machine. She started as a Fulbright-funded Wall Street correspondent in the US before coordinating editions for the Wall Street Journal, then ran breaking news and digital innovation at El Mundo back in Spain. Now at Prisa Media, her standout project is Victoria - a synthetic voice built from scratch, dubbed “The Voice of Soccer”. She also led VerificAudio, an experimental Spanish-language audio deepfake detection tool for journalists. Olalla knows all about practical AI, applied editorially.Fergus and Tom talk to her about the shift from newsrooms to AI, the conversational experience of Voice products and chatbots like Alexa or Siri, the AI world before ChatGPT. They discuss using LLMs for rigorous work, the protection of “super-valuable” intellectual property, why it’s important to read the fine print, plus what is “shadow IT” and why are some people using AI in secret?If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Rob FitzpatrickEdited by James Bullock

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this episode, Fergus and Tom talk to Micah Gelman and Lauren Saks from Local News International, the poster kids of the independent news brand universe. Founded mid-2025 when Dave Jorgenson, Lauren and Micah all left the Washington Post, LNI is a creator-led newsroom built on video, newsletters and direct audience relationships.Gelman spent a decade as the Post's Head of Video, winning Pulitzers, Emmys, Murrows and Webbys; Saks, as Deputy Head of Video, built Washington Post Universe and its TikTok/YouTube operation. In just under a year, LNI has pulled in 375,000 YouTube subscribers and a “one-to-one relationship” with their 15,000 newsletter subscribers. Theirs is a two-pronged business: Jorgenson’s “artful, custom” daily video posts and the company’s work in helping other organisations to develop in-house talent and build a meaningful audience. Their big lesson? Being independent means you can’t ever stop - it's a non-stop push to move forward. Side quest - what’s the worst kind of slop? Find out within.If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Rob FitzpatrickEdited by James Bullock

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this episode, Fergus and Tom consider Australia’s Social Media Ban, toxic spaces, resourceful teenagers, the limits of parental guidance and the real impacts of a reduced news diet.Social Media is the pathway to news, so how will these restrictions affect young people’s ability to access verifiable, quality news? How do you build a news brand without the big platforms? And even if you are a news geek, how do you get to want to be a journalist if you don’t really see journalists? To answer this question, Fergus also talks to Sue Brooks, the chair of the National Council for the Training of Journalists, who considers the seismic shifts in the news industry, how journalism has become "an elite sport", where the future leaders will come from and, crucially, who will pay for it.If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Rob FitzpatrickEdited by James Bullock

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this extra episode, Fergus and Tom consider where audiences are heading, the repurposing of content, efficiency vs creativity and future-casting. Sidenote: is it jif or gif?If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Rob FitzpatrickEdited by James Bullock

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this fourth episode, Fergus and Tom dig into what they've seen and learned after working with nearly 250 newsrooms in 40 countries since September 2024. Trends, data, anecdotes and breaking open the misleading idea that all newsrooms are focused simply on replacing journalists.If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Rob FitzpatrickEdited by James Bullock

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this third episode, Fergus and Tom discuss Digital Media Asia, the rise and rise of Winston and William Utomo's IDN Times, new business models for journalism, the oddness of AI-hosted podcasts and more.If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Rob FitzpatrickEdited by James Bullock

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this episode, Fergus talks about what he saw and heard at the 2026 International Journalism Festival in Perugia. They chew over "what is a journalist?", whether Perugia was the Creator Festival, the power of the clip, the incredible rise of Live-Streamed news - looking in particular at Chile's first streaming news channel, Turno - and the "Miami Vice aesthetic" of the recently-acquired TBPN.If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Rob FitzpatrickEdited by James Bullock