SPUR Coalition AI News Rights Journalism Matters — Publishers from across the world stand together at WAN-IFRA Marseille to demand fair AI payment for their news content.

SPUR Coalition New Members AI Fight for News Rights

SPUR Coalition New Members AI Unite Against Tech Giants

By Desk Assistant On Jun 3, 2026

AI – (Web Desk) – The SPUR coalition new members AI campaign took a major step forward on Wednesday. More than 30 European and North American media outlets officially joined the growing alliance. The group is pushing for fair payment from AI companies that use news content.

The new members include France’s CMA Media, Switzerland’s Ringier, Canada’s The Globe and Mail, and CBC/Radio Canada. They joined founding members BBC, Financial Times, The Guardian, Sky News, Telegraph Media, and Belgium’s Mediahuis.

The announcement came at the WAN-IFRA world publishers summit held in Marseille, France. Leaders from across the global media industry gathered to discuss the future of journalism in the age of AI.

SPUR stands for Standards for Publisher Usage Rights. The coalition says AI and tech companies are using news content to train their systems without asking permission or paying for it. Publishers want that to change.

New York Times publisher Arthur Gregg Sulzberger put it bluntly. He said tech giants are strip-mining news websites without any compensation. This is taking a serious toll on newsrooms around the world.

CMA deputy chief Jean-Christophe Tortora called for a new deal between publishers and tech platforms. He wants fair value sharing, stronger content protection, and support for independent journalism.

Tortora also urged French President Emmanuel Macron to raise this issue at the upcoming G7 summit in Evian this month. The goal is to push for global action at the highest political level.

The Guardian’s CEO Anna Bateson said welcoming 30 new members gives SPUR the scale it needs to make a real difference. She said the coalition will now work to protect publisher intellectual property and offer AI developers a proper licensing path.

SPUR is also building technical tools that will help publishers track exactly how their content is being used by AI systems. This will give media companies stronger ground when negotiating with tech firms.

The coalition makes clear it is not a price-fixing body. Publishers will still be free to make their own deals with AI companies. But SPUR aims to create shared standards that benefit everyone fairly.