Mediahuis head of AI strategy Ana Jakimovska speaking at the FT Strategies News in the Digital Age event in London on 12 February 2026. Picture: FT Strategies Belgium-based news publisher Mediahuis is experimenting with automating the production of its “first-line” news. Under an experimental project AI agents are involved in the writing, fact checking, legal checking and editing of news stories under the plan but a human would always check the finished product before it is published. The proposal is to allow the 2,000 journalists at Mediahuis to concentrate on producing its “signature journalism”, the publisher’s head of AI strategy Ana Jakimovska told the FT Strategies News in the Digital Age event in London on Wednesday. Mediahuis publishes around 25 titles in Belgium (De Standaard), the Netherlands (De Telegraaf), Ireland (Irish Independent and Belfast Telegraph), Luxembourg (Luxemburger Wort) and Germany (Aachener Zeitung). [From 2023: How Mediahuis is easing generative AI into its newsrooms] Jakimovska said: “We’re really, really big on signature journalism, on talking to people, knocking on doors, interviewing, understanding our communities’ deep connection …