Real journalists matter in an AI world

An algorithm can decide what you see, but it doesn’t report the news. Nunatsiaq News, an award-winning newspaper in Nunavut, recently reported that a so-called “news” website was posting AI-generated articles about the north by stealing real news stories produced by real journalists.

The articles were supposedly written by Nunavut correspondent Leah Qammaniq — a fake journalist, with a fake photo and a fake bio.

Governor General Louise Arbour warned us of fake news in her installation speech in June. She said, “We must continue to protect the public space in which our national debates take place: from schools and universities to the media, political parties, unions and civil society organizations …With instant access to vast amounts of information, it is very tempting to pay little attention to the reliability of sources. The lines between knowledge and belief, between truth and falsehood, between facts and assumptions, are increasingly blurred. AI could be threatening not only the way we live and work, but also the control we exercise over our own destiny.”

The Government of Canada has recognized the problem as well. Its recent discussion paper, Enhancing trust in artificial intelligence through increased transparency, stated, “Canadians encounter news reporting, product reviews, and audio-visual content across the internet, often without any indication of whether it was written by a person, generated by an AI system, or produced through some combination of both … A particular concern within this broader landscape is that generative AI greatly enables the creation and dissemination of deceptive or misleading content.”

Yet, the federal government hasn’t taken any action when it comes to the brazen theft of news content by AI companies. Indeed, its highly anticipated report, Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All, didn’t mention the word “copyright” – not even once. At the same time, according to a survey conducted for News Media Canada, 78 per cent of Canadians say they are concerned about fake news and disinformation, underscoring the growing value of credible, professionally produced journalism.

In the face of misinformation and disinformation and threats to Canadian sovereignty, identity, and unity, there is an urgent need to protect and control Canadian trusted, verified intellectual property and to keep its value in Canada, for Canadians.

Fact-based, fact-checked trusted journalistic content is vital to a healthy democracy, and there are concrete steps that can be taken to safeguard this pillar of our democracy.

• First, clearly and unequivocally state that there will be no text and data-mining exception;

• Second, use the power of the federal procurement purse to ensure that these companies stop stealing creator content through robust supplier commitments;

• Third, align with the U.K. competition authority’s approach, which gives publishers an opt-out to control how news content surfaces in Google’s AI answers;

• Fourth, have the industry minister direct the Competition Bureau to conduct a market study into Google’s AI/search crawler;

• Fifth, introduce and pass bad bot legislation similar to the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, currently before the U.S. Congress.

National Newspaper Week 2026 celebrates the people behind the news and reminds Canadians that trusted journalism is produced by real journalists, who report, investigate, verify, and write it.

This year’s program introduces “Al Gorithm”, a fictional character who highlights an increasingly important distinction — an algorithm can decide what you see, but it doesn’t sit through a council meeting, interview a local business owner, cover a championship game or hold decision-makers accountable.

With the industrial scale theft of copyright-protected news content by AI companies and threats to our cultural and digital sovereignty from the U.S., our federal government can help sustain real journalism by real journalists by maintaining the Online News Act (which is seeing $100 million flowing annually from Google to news businesses), maintaining the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit at 35 per cent, maintaining the Local Journalism Initiative, and earmarking 25 per cent of federal advertising spending to trusted news outlets.

Digital and cultural sovereignty matter. Canadian stories matter. Facts matter. Real journalists matter.

Paul Deegan is president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada.