One of NewsCorp’s UK businesses, Times Media is working with a German editorial systems developer to automate page layout for what is one of the country’s oldest and most-respected newspapers.

InterRed’s SmartPaper delivers AI-powered print automation to The Times – founded in 1785 – and the Sunday Times in what is described as “a significant step” toward the use of AI tools in the publishing of newspapers.

Neither paper currently uses AI in the creation of content.

The move follows adoption of a fully-digital first editorial workflow based on WordPress VIP, for which a 34 per cent faster time-to-publish had been claimed, and already in use at The Sun, the New York Post and Dow Jones.

Many of these use standardised WordPress plugins developed centrally within NewsCorp’s global NewsPress programme, which group product development director for CMS & publishing products Monica Mina says is part of a “don’t build twice” philosophy.

“We wanted to make sure whatever we build for The Times can be used elsewhere,” she said earlier. “This way they can leverage what we’ve already built for our publications and drive collaboration across our business units around the world.”

The changeover process here began in 2022 with weekly magazines such as the Sunday Times Magazine and its law section using the new CMS and workflow, working towards switching the newsroom over in 2023, which happened with a big push in October and November.

A headless architecture and pulling content via WordPress VIP’s APIs, the CMS now powers The Times’ website, classic, iPad and iPhone apps, and other digital experiences.

Mina spent time in London as part of a push for global standardisation.

Now the SmartPaper roll out is enabling automated generation of complete newspaper pages – including positioning, typography and page composition – while maintaining the editorial integrity and quality standards of human-produced journalism. All editorial content continues to be created by journalists.

The solution automatically identifies the optimal image focus and generates precise cut-outs. It ensures accurate text flow and places text directly on images, while maintaining a consistent, brand-compliant layout.

The AI-driven print automation enables efficient content reuse, including across languages, and generated layouts can be used directly to create e-paper editions. Overall, this increases production efficiency and reduces editorial workload.

Top: The News Building in London, headquarters of News UK (Photo: News UK)