• by Ray Schultz , April 3, 2025

Consumers must understand the origin of images and other content they are being served by news media, speakers said during a workshop in Paris.

“We must strengthen our voice and hold our ground against the big tech players,” argued Fabrice Fries, chief executive officer of news organization AFP, in his opening remarks starting the one-day event. 

This requires that “news organizations and the general public can inspect the provenance of our images,” added Eric Baradat, global news deputy director for photo and archives at AFP. “This transparency builds trust.”

The workshop was jointly organized by AFP, BBC and Media Cluster Norway jointly organized the workshop, which was hosted by AFP and supported by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). It was attended by more than 40 people from over 20 news organizations, including CBC-Radio Canada, Deutsche Welle, France TV, ITV, NHK and Al Jazeera. 

“The challenges the news industry are facing are so great that we can only succeed if we work together,” asserted Helge O. Svela, CEO of Media Cluster Norway.Making sure the public can discern between authentic media and content made by generative AI is vital not only for news organizations, but for democratic societies,” 

“Trust is earned,” commented Judy Parnall, principal technologist, BBC Research and Development.

“At the BBC we have seen that users really engage when we show them how their news was made. Extra media provenance details such as when and where an image was taken, or the steps used to verify it, make a real difference to how users trust their news.”

Brendan Quinn, managing director at IPTC, concluded: “It is vital that the needs of the news media ecosystem are heard as this technology and standards are further developed and refined.”