.png)
.png)
This October, 2025 the bi-annual MINDS International conference, which we are a member of, opened with a message few in the media industry will forget.
Leaders of the world’s news agencies, along with a Nordot’s representative, gathered at the Vatican for a private audience with Pope Leo XIV, who offered a powerful reflection on journalism, truth, and democracy in a time of deep technological disruption. The Pope’s words resonated far beyond faith or institution.
He warned us and the entire sector against the “ancient art of lying” now amplified by modern tech, called for the release of imprisoned journalists, and reminded us that “doing the work of a journalist can never be considered a crime.”
He also urged the media to stand as “a bulwark of civility” in a post-truth world where “algorithms must not be governed by the few”. That statement echoes those exact structural challenges journalism faces today.
Because this message strikes directly at the heart of our mission. We exist to ensure that quality journalism can travel safely, fairly, and visibly across borders, platforms, and now, increasingly, AI ecosystems.
Algorithms increasingly shape what information people see but the infrastructure that feeds those systems remains uneven. Many publishers still struggle to ensure their verified, high-value reporting is represented fairly, discoverable in new environments, and properly attributed.
We were founded by Kyodo News in 2015, and our work has always been guided by a simple principle: if trusted reporting fuels the information ecosystem, it must also benefit from it. Helping good journalism reach the right audience is core to that principle.
That means building infrastructure that gives publishers, national agencies and independent news creators the ability to distribute content globally, preserve attribution and provenance, and get compensated when their work powers platforms, B2C and B2B, and now AI systems.
At this year’s MINDS Rome 2025, we also shared insights on the new rules of distribution, how discovery is changing as AI interfaces replace the traditional link economy, and how publishers can remain both visible and fairly compensated in what he called “the zero-click world.”
Our session explored how referral traffic from search and social has declined sharply, while AI-driven overviews and summaries now absorb a growing share of web usage, already estimated at 25% of global traffic. Yet audiences still consume journalism, they just encounter it differently. To stay relevant and resilient, news organizations must now:
Bertrand de Volontat is VP of EMEA at Nordot, where he helps publishers make the most of their content across platforms and borders. With a background in both journalism and media business, he led editorial operations at upday and launched several digital media ventures in the past.