Today sees the launch of The News Alliance, a cross-industry coalition of media businesses that support and promote trusted news and journalism. The alliance will champion the benefits of advertising in news environments across TV, radio, magazines and news brands to advertisers and agencies
The launch follows several large research studies that prove advertising alongside trusted, regulated and professionally crafted journalism is highly effective and brand safe, regardless of topic. Despite the overwhelming evidence, advertising investment in regulated news remains challenging, while investment in unregulated environments continues at pace. The News Alliance has identified four key actions for advertiser and agency partners to support:
- Champion trusted journalism – critical to the advertising ecosystem and society as a whole
- Actively invest in news environments – all the evidence shows it works
- Reconsider what brand safety means – especially in the context of news
- Review advertising block lists – ensure news isn’t being unintentionally penalised
Throughout 2025, The News Alliance will be visible at a series of industry events, roundtables and presentations, to promote trusted news and the importance of truth in the wider media ecosystem.
Sarah Jones, Sky Media’s director of planning, and The News Alliance’s spokesperson, said: “With the abandonment of fact-checking by some organisations, fake news and toxic content is only set to spread further and faster than before. Even with ‘brand safety’ measures, it seems social media platforms struggle to protect audiences and advertisers from dangerous or misleading content as there are no ‘publisher’ controls in place to regulate content before it is posted. The antidote to misinformation is trusted, regulated and professionally crafted journalism – where editorial control protects audiences and advertisers.”
“Encouragingly support from right across the ad industry is gathering pace, however, there is still a clear gap between this support and real action, namely increased advertising investment. So, our role as The News Alliance is to collectively champion the benefits of advertising in regulated and professionally produced news environments. We need to land the valuable role trusted journalism plays in the media ecosystem as well as driving home how important it is to society.”
If you would like to find out more, please get in touch.
