Xinhua Hosts Dialogue with Reuters, AP and AFP

On October 12, 2024, representatives from Xinhua News Agency, Reuters, the Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse convened in Beijing for a high-level meeting among the four agencies. This was the second dialogue event hosted by Xinhua since the December 2023 inaugural meeting. Unlike the first meeting, which included top executives, the October gathering featured senior officials rather than agency leaders. According to Xinhua, the agencies discussed AI’s impact on journalism, with Xinhua’s president Fu Hua (傅華)  saying that AI poses many challenges to news reporting, including the risk of spreading false information through AI-generated images and videos. Fu suggested the agencies “embrace technological change” while combating misinformation, claiming “major global wire services should jointly shoulder the responsibility of upholding journalistic ethics.” Representatives from Reuters, AP, and AFP reportedly stated news agencies should redefine AI use while building safeguards, and all four agencies agreed to continue strengthening communication on AI-related topics. Xinhua has been keen to establish dialogue with the major international news wires in order to be seen as a key player in global information dissemination, but global news agencies have distanced themselves from the idea that cooperation with Xinhua relates to their professional journalism work — AP’s CEO emphasizing to US lawmakers in 2019 that cooperation is “purely commercial in nature.”