If Newsrewired 2025 made one thing clear, it’s this: the value and importance of original journalism has never been higher. But the rules of engagement among publishers, platforms, creators, and AI are being rewritten in real time. That shift has huge implications for how organisations build trust, tell stories and work with the media in the years ahead.
Creators, AI and the squeezed newsroom
JournalismUK’s Marcela Kunova’s “new chapter” set the tone. Her vision of a rebranded JournalismUK as a home for journalists and journalism, not just a content feed to be scraped by algorithms, underlines a crucial point for communications teams: media relationships are about shared value, not cheap reach.
Professor Lucy Küng’s framing of a “creator–AI revolution” should be a wake-up call to anyone still viewing “the press” as a monolith. Traditional media are being squeezed from two sides: the rise of professionalised creators with short shelf lives and high burnout, and a flood of AI-generated content that commoditises basic information.
Classic newsrooms have the capabilities but often lack the speed and experimentation culture of the creator economy. For PR, that means helping editorial partners pilot new formats and collaborations, not just pushing press releases into an already noisy ecosystem.
AI as a leadership test, not a tech fix
Perhaps the most transferable theme was the discussion on AI as a leadership challenge rather than a “tech” challenge to hand off to IT. News leaders spoke candidly about messy workflows, tool chaos, privacy worries and teams feeling they “should” know more than they do.
The most successful leadership approaches that help teams navigate the new world of AI:
– Reduce noise: helping teams to focus on how AI can add to core strategy rather than being distracted by the latest / shiniest tools or what competitors are doing.
– Create clarity by communicating strategy around why and where AI is being used consistently and frequently – not just once and hoping it’s manifested.
– Rebuild workflows and organisational structures to integrate AI throughout. It’s not enough to “sprinkle” AI over existing processes.
– Create psychological safety: AI will involve failed experiments, overwhelmed teams, a requirement for rapid pivots, etc. Teams need to feel safe and secure in being able to do that.
– Protect AI experiments from legacy processes that can overcome innovation if not safeguarded.
– Keep a portfolio mindset that plans for short-term wins to keep enthusiasm and momentum for AI projects, mid-term bets, and long-term strategic decisions.
Supporting the next generation
Finally, the panels on young journalists, mentorship and Gen Z audiences offered lessons for employers everywhere. The next generation expects flexible pathways, visible support and leaders who “have their back”, not command-and-control hierarchies. They also gravitate toward formats that feel human, imperfect and mission-led.
Ultimately, the same questions newsrooms are wrestling with – how to stay useful, human and trusted in an age of automation – apply just as sharply to any organisation communicating with customers, employees or stakeholders.
The takeaway is not to wait for perfect answers or a neat AI roadmap. It is to create the conditions for thoughtful experimentation, protect the people doing the hard work of change, and stay relentlessly focused on the value they are trying to create.
