If you think today’s media monopoly is crushing independent journalism, you might need to sit down…with us! The rules of journalism are being rewritten by machines and Rupert Murdoch, who’s been busy developing an in-house program to imitate the company’s own journalists. But in a world of democratic backsliding, how do we stop AI from breaking news, as we know (and need) it?

SPEAKERS:

Dr Richard Denniss — Executive Director at The Australia Institute

Dr Richard Denniss is a prominent Australian economist, Executive Director of The Australia Institute, author and public policy commentator, and has spent the last twenty years moving between policy-focused roles in academia, federal politics and think-tanks. He was also a Lecturer in Economics at the university of Newcastle and former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. He is a regular contributor to The Monthly and the author of several books including: Econobabble, Curing Affluenza and Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next?

Clive Marshall — Former Chief Executive Officer at The Press Association (UK)

Clive retired from full time employment in 2025 having spent his working life in the  media . Starting in advertising sales in his local newspaper in the north west of England. Over the 24 years  prior to his retirememt he was CEO  at Australian Associated Press for ten years and then for 14 years CEO of PA Media Group London. He is currently chair  of NLA Media Access the publisher rights company, Chair of Baize Group a specialist motoring publisher, events and PR business, President of Kosova Press the Kosovo news agency, Global advisory board member TravMeda a global media network for the travel industry and a member of the Nominations Committee of the Thomson Reuters Trust.

During his time as CEO of AAP and PA Media Group, despite not being a journalist, he met Russian President Vladimir Putin on seven occasions as part of a small news media delegation invited to Putin’s annual St Peterburg media event.

Emma Cowdroy — Acting Chief Executive Officer at Australian Associated Press

Emma joined AAP in 2002 after working with legal firms in media, telecommunications and commercial law. Appointed General Counsel late that year and Company Secretary in 2017, Emma has been an integral part of the agency’s leadership team for over two decades.

Emma became CEO of the new AAP Newswire in August 2020 and led the organisation through a period of significant change including its transition away from its former shareholders and its establishment as a not-for-profit. She stepped back into an executive role in early 2022 and was recently asked to return as Acting CEO.

Emma is a director of the News Media Coalition UK, a global industry body which lobbies for press freedom to cover major sporting, entertainment and political events. She serves on the Nominations Committee of the Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company, the entity established to protect the trust principles of one of the largest news media companies in the world. She is also a director of Clean Up Australia.