蜜芽传媒

In October 2024, 70 people representing 30 organisations from 15 countries across four continents gathered at the 蜜芽传媒 building in Salford to join the Origin Media Provenance Seminar.  The seminar was organised by 蜜芽传媒 R&D with our partners from  in Bergen.

 is a way to record digitally signed information about the provenance of imagery, video and audio 鈥� information (or signals) that shows where a piece of media has come from and how it鈥檚 been edited. Like an audit trail or a history, these signals are called 鈥榗ontent credentials鈥�, and are developed as an  by the  (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity). Content credentials have just been selected by .

In order for news organisations to show their consumers that they really are looking at some content from the real 鈥溍垩看�媒鈥�, content credentials use the same technology as websites - digital certificates - to prove who signed it. The International Press Telecommunications Council () has created a programme called 鈥溾��, which allows news organisations to register to get their identity checked. Once their ID has been verified, they can get a certificate, which gives consumers assurance that the content certifiably comes from the organisation they have chosen to trust.

At the Summit, we wanted to show exactly how far the development and roll-out of C2PA and the IPTC鈥檚 Verified News Publisher programme has got, with relevant examples. Media Provenance is growing into an industry and part of our role as core members is to convene discussions like this as work in this space develops.

Tim Forrest, Content Editor, Projects from ITN set the context, reminding us that for journalists, the old 鈥榟ow did this happen? why did this happen?鈥� questions are now preceded by the question 鈥榙id this happen? Provenance helps us establish the facts behind how a piece of content was created. Although we acknowledge that disinformation is a complex issue with many causes and effects, signing media with details of its provenance is one rung on the ladder of solutions. 

Judy Parnall (蜜芽传媒) and Helge O. Svela (CEO, Media Cluster Norway) followed Tim with a thorough overview of the current state of play in media provenance. Various delegates then showcased different stages of the news workflow, demonstrating how this new technology can provide value at 鈥渃apture鈥�, 鈥減roduction鈥� and 鈥減ublish鈥�.

Sony showed us a compelling live demo of the new support they have in several cameras for C2PA signing at the very start of the process: capture. Cutting Room showed us their C2PA-supporting editing software, as well as capture app with planned C2PA support, along with a call to the C2PA community to produce more C2PA libraries for mobile.

Presenters from , , and  demonstrated their technology in the 鈥減roduce鈥� stage of the process, from planning, to asset management, to production. CBC and WDR spoke about the use cases they are finding value in right now, and showed us the status of their trials. The message was clear -  this is no longer just an idea with a standard attached - it鈥檚 being implemented in practice by those making and using key newsroom tools.

Finally in this segment, Charlie Halford (蜜芽传媒) took us through the three C2PA use cases the 蜜芽传媒 is exploring right now: social, fact-checking/verification data, and 鈥渞euniting鈥� content found off-platform.

It鈥檚 all very well having a technology, we need to know that it also has value for audiences.  So Aleksandra Gojkovic (UXSenior) and Lara Monday (UX Midweight) from the 蜜芽传媒 shared the audience research that we published.  Their work shows that adding provenance data makes a difference to audiences鈥� trust level.  We were able to show in some detail which parts of the metadata users found the most valuable.

 and WDR spoke about the use cases they are finding value in right now, and .  Wewere also able to offer a chance to get hands on with some of the software and hardware implementing the technology, enabling participants to experience first hand how it might affect their workflows.  As well as tools for use in production we saw cameras and apps which sign pictures when they are taken.  This gave space to share with each other our concerns and developments, which carried on into the evening.

The second day took the form of an unconference which is where the topics to be discussed come from the attendees. This gave us the space to consider the issues that are the most important including how to select the metadata which should be carried, deliver the user experience across a range of language and newsrooms and engage with policy issues.  

Bruce MacCormack who is leading the work in IPTC said 鈥淚t was inspiring to spend time with the ever expanding community of news leaders who are adopting C2PA as a defence against AI generated misinformation.  The conversations have moved beyond the 鈥渨hy鈥� to 鈥渉ow鈥� and 鈥渉ow soon鈥�?  This has grown faster and has more global impact then we could ever have imagined when the 蜜芽传媒 and CBC/Radio-Canada started Project Origin with Microsoft and the New York Times in 2018鈥�

Tim Forrest from ITN was engaging with this group, having been involved in an IBC Accelerator, .  鈥淚 think we are on the edge of something big here. We have never had a way of being able to tell the origins of our videos and our pictures. C2PA promises that but there is work to do before it delivers. So we鈥檝e got a decision to make. Are we in or out? Do we push on or pull back? I came away from the summit with a glimpse of what we - as news providers - could achieve if we collaborate around this. The decision is for all of us.鈥�

And our co-host, Helge O. Svela from MCN summed the event up:  鈥淭he summit was a great success, filled with engaging discussions that not only sparked new ideas but also challenged many of our existing preconceptions. Some of these conversations will undoubtedly help guide the implementation of C2PA in the news ecosystem, ensuring we move in the right direction towards a more transparent and trustworthy media landscape.鈥�

So what now?  We will be making the most of all the information that we gathered and will use it to challenge the next phase of work on provenance.  We hope that it will lead to more of us working together to continue to promote trust in our content.