Journalism must fundamentally rethink its relationship with audiences as platforms, AI, and changing consumer habits reshape the news industry, INMA President Gert Ysebaert told delegates Wednesday at the opening of the INMA World Congress of News Media.

Speaking to a record 750 news executives from 38 countries gathered in Berlin, Ysebaert described the news industry as being at an inflection point — one requiring publishers move beyond traditional reach strategies and toward deeper audience relationships.

“So attention is no longer a given,” said Ysebaert, CEO of the Belgium-based Mediahuis Group. “It’s about being chosen.”

“Journalism is at risk”

Ysebaert pointed to mounting pressure from politicians, misinformation, social platforms, audience fragmentation, and AI systems that use journalism “without attribution, without permission.”

“At the same time,” he said, “people are starting to doubt what is real and what is fake. That also applies to what we are doing.”

The news industry, he argued, is increasingly squeezed between platforms and the creator economy while advertisers chase cheaper attention elsewhere.

From reach to relationships

A central theme of the presentation was the shift from a reach-driven business model to a relationship-driven one.

“Young audiences, new audiences, they don’t build their habits on destinations,” Ysebaert said. “They want journalism to show up where they live, on their platforms, in their formats.”

He also warned that AI intermediaries will further weaken direct audience connections: “AI agents, they will sit between us and our audience.”

Publishers can no longer assume attention will naturally flow to their owned platforms, he said, adding the industry is moving “from a reach business” toward “a relationship model.”

An industry at an “inflection point”

Ysebaert challenged news publishers to confront whether they are delaying transformation because legacy models still generate meaningful revenue.

“What if we prefer to optimise what is still working instead of building for the future?” he asked.

While many publishers still benefit from large traditional audiences and pricing power, he warned that approach “is not sustainable.”

The news industry now faces a strategic choice, he argued: “Survive or thrive?”

Solidarity and collaboration

Ysebaert repeatedly returned to the need for collective action across the news industry.

“It requires that we rethink our business,” he said. “It requires that we rethink our organisation, that we redesign our organisations. And probably it also requires that we redesign our industry.”

He warned isolated deals with AI companies will not solve the news industry’s broader structural challenges: “In the end, we are much, much stronger if we act together. If we act in solidarity.”

Why Germany?

Ysebaert said Germany was chosen by INMA for its 96th Annual World Congress because the country’s news industry remains heavily subscription-driven and is still closely tied to print, making it a valuable testing ground for transformation.

“Probably the change won’t come from Germany,” Ysebaert said. “But it is here that it will be tested, and it’s here that it will be executed.”

All photos by Robert Downs Photography.

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