URGENT UPDATE: Michael Leidig, a veteran in the news industry, has just launched NewsX, a nonprofit initiative aimed at fixing what he describes as a “broken news ecosystem.” This significant move comes after Leidig’s closure of four news agencies across Europe and Asia last year due to shrinking budgets and rising operational challenges.
Leidig, with over 30 years of experience, has witnessed firsthand the decline of independent news agencies in the UK. The industry has been crippled as fees from national newspapers have remained stagnant for nearly 40 years. “The job used to be introducing people to perspectives they wouldn’t otherwise hear,” Leidig stated. “Now, the whole system is designed to reinforce existing beliefs.”
The current landscape has seen local papers shuttered, specialist freelancers vanish, and the traditional newsroom supply chain drastically reduced. As a result, the critical processes of discovery, verification, editing, and distribution have faltered, leading to a surge in PR-driven content and politically motivated messaging.
Leidig emphasizes that while AI has exacerbated these issues, it also offers potential solutions. Tasks such as restructuring copy and generating drafts can now be automated, allowing reporters to focus on gathering news. However, he warns, “you end up with brilliant content and no system capable of absorbing it, verifying it, or getting it read.”
What’s fundamentally lacking, according to Leidig, is a common standard that allows for seamless movement of news across the ecosystem. To address this, NewsX has been carefully crafted over the past decade. “People talk about reinventing journalism,” he explained, “I’m focused on rebuilding the mechanics from conception through to publication and monetization.”
NewsX introduces a system that documents editorial work, ensuring content creators are credited and compensated. Each story will carry a digital fingerprint detailing its origin, sources, revisions, and publication history. Additionally, the NewsX Press Card will establish a tiered accreditation system based on identity verification and a transparent work record.
“This isn’t about status,” Leidig asserts. “It’s about accountability.” The initiative seeks to restore trust in journalism by making the authorship of news clear.
A notable feature of NewsX is the QC (Quis Custodiet) transparency tool. This tech-enabled complaints system allows anyone to evaluate a story against the QC Standards Code using public AI resources. If any issues are flagged, a human reviewer will intervene, ensuring a ruling is made within days and outcomes are published openly.
Several publishers, including National World and the Evening Standard, are already opting to use NewsX content on a credit-only basis, which guarantees bylines and visibility over upfront payments. Leidig views this as a growth strategy, as visibility typically leads to syndication and further use, driving up network-wide engagement.
In contrast, mainstream outlets like MailOnline and the New York Post continue to pay on a per-usage basis, leading to numerous NewsX-sourced stories appearing weekly across the UK press.
As the launch of NewsX unfolds, the news industry is watching closely. With a growing number of publishers joining the initiative, the potential for a revitalized news ecosystem is on the horizon.
Stay tuned for updates on how this innovative approach could reshape journalism as we know it.
