News Corp deploys AI platform to transform newsroom operations

News Corp, the media company behind The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and MarketWatch, has announced a partnership with artificial intelligence startup Symbolic.ai to integrate AI tools into its newsroom operations. The deployment began this week with Dow Jones Newswires, the financial news service owned by Dow Jones & Co., a News Corp subsidiary. The move signals how established news organizations are beginning to adopt AI to assist with routine editorial tasks while maintaining journalistic standards.

Symbolic.ai describes itself as an AI platform built specifically for professional communicators in news, corporate communications, and public relations. The company was founded by Devin Wenig, a former eBay chief executive, and Jon Stokes, a media and technology veteran. The platform is designed to help newsrooms handle research, writing, and publishing more efficiently.

Background

The partnership reflects broader industry trends as news organizations grapple with rising production costs and competition for readers. Traditional newsrooms have long relied on manual processes for tasks like transcribing interviews, organizing research materials, and checking facts. These routine tasks consume significant time that journalists could spend on reporting and analysis.

Symbolic.ai addresses what it describes as a fragmented landscape in newsrooms. Currently, many news organizations use disconnected AI tools and manual workflows that create inconsistency and slow down content production. The startup says this approach makes content vulnerable to errors and takes longer to produce.

"At the onset of the AI revolution, we have the opportunity to define a new way of working, and a new commercial model, for professionals and publishers who create critical content," said Devin Wenig, co-founder and chief executive of Symbolic.

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson emphasized the company's concern about maintaining editorial integrity while adopting new technology. He noted that Symbolic's team has deep roots in media and understands the importance of accuracy and editorial standards.

Key Details

The Symbolic platform consolidates multiple tasks into a single workspace. It includes features for research management, writing assistance, fact-checking, and publication preparation. The system can transcribe audio files, extract information from documents, generate summaries, and create newsletters. It also includes tools for optimizing headlines and providing SEO guidance.

Early results from Dow Jones Newswires show significant productivity improvements. The news service reported productivity gains of as much as 90 percent for complex research tasks during initial testing. The platform cuts overall production time by more than half across the entire workflow, according to the company.

How the platform works

Symbolic uses what it calls semantic search, agentic workflows, and smart model routing to direct different tasks to the most appropriate AI systems. The platform includes a fact-checking engine that verifies claims and data across research materials and authoritative sources. This feature addresses a key concern in newsrooms: ensuring accuracy in published content.

The platform also preserves individual newsroom style and voice. Rather than imposing a uniform writing style, it uses research materials, format preferences, and style guide information to tailor its assistance to each publication's needs. This allows The Wall Street Journal's writing style to remain distinct from Barron's or MarketWatch.

Symbolic emphasizes intellectual property protection and privacy in its design. The system includes library management tools and IP protection features that ensure content security and proper rights management. The architecture does not depend on any single AI model or provider, reducing the risk of service disruptions.

What This Means

The News Corp partnership represents a test case for how major news organizations might integrate AI into daily operations. If successful, it could influence how other publishers approach similar technology adoption. The deal also suggests that AI companies focused on specific industries, rather than general-purpose tools, may have better chances of gaining acceptance in professional settings.

For journalists at News Corp properties, the platform is intended to free up time for investigative reporting and analysis rather than replacing reporters. The company frames the technology as a tool to handle repetitive tasks, allowing journalists to focus on storytelling and original reporting.

The partnership also indicates that news organizations are willing to work with AI companies that prioritize accuracy and editorial standards. Thomson's comments about Symbolic's "sincere appreciation of provenance" suggest that News Corp evaluated the startup based on its understanding of journalism, not just technical capabilities.

Symbolic says it is addressing a market opportunity of more than 100 billion dollars annually in fact-based communication and publishing. The company claims to be used by some of the world's leading news and communications teams, though News Corp is the most prominent public partnership announced to date.

The deployment at Dow Jones Newswires will likely influence how other news organizations consider similar tools. If the partnership produces the promised efficiency gains without compromising editorial quality, other publishers may follow. However, questions remain about how newsrooms will balance automation with the need for human judgment in journalism.