Reuters and ITN Team Up to Share 70 Years of News History With the World

Two major news companies, Reuters and ITN, have announced a deal to make one of the world's largest collections of historic news video easier to find and use. The ITN archive holds more than 70 years of footage covering some of the biggest moments in history. Starting January 1, 2027, people around the world will be able to search and license this content through an online platform called Reuters Connect. The goal is to preserve important journalism and make it available to a whole new generation of viewers and creators.

The ITN archive dates all the way back to 1955, when ITN made its very first broadcast. Since then, it has recorded countless historic events — from the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa to Royal weddings in the United Kingdom to the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany. The archive now contains more than one million video clips, making it one of the most complete moving-image collections in the world. All of this footage was captured by real journalists on the ground, giving it a sense of trust and authenticity.

To make the archive easier to use, Reuters will apply its own artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help organize and describe the videos. The AI will add detailed information to each clip, such as written transcriptions of what people said, descriptions of each shot, and translations into different languages. This means that someone searching for a specific moment in history will be able to find the right footage much more quickly. Reuters will also digitize — meaning convert to a digital format — an extra 12,000 hours of ITN video using its own in-house facilities.

Reuters Connect is the online marketplace where all of this content will live. It already offers decades of Reuters news coverage, plus content from more than 100 other organizations. Adding the ITN archive will make it an even richer resource for filmmakers, publishers, content creators, and digital platforms. Think of it like a giant library, but instead of books, it holds news videos from around the world.

Alphonse Hardel, the Head of Reuters News Agency, said the deal shows how technology and content can work together. "ITN's archive is a journalistic treasure trove," he said. "By digitising more of that footage and enriching it with detailed, AI-generated metadata, we can help customers discover and use this remarkable record of history." His words highlight why this partnership matters — not just for business, but for keeping history alive.

Tim Forest, who leads Content Delivery at ITN, also spoke about why the deal is so important right now. He pointed out that fake news and misinformation are big problems today, making trusted archives more valuable than ever. He said that Reuters shares ITN's values of trust and integrity, which made them the right partner. Together, the two companies hope to bring real, verified news footage to audiences all over the globe.

ITN is based in London and produces about 14 hours of live television every single day. Its newsrooms create content for major UK channels like ITV News, Channel 4 News, and 5 News. In 2025 alone, ITN's digital content received over 7 billion views online. Reuters, founded in 1851, is one of the oldest and most respected news agencies in the world, known for its commitment to accuracy and fairness.

This partnership is about more than just business — it's about making sure that important moments in history are not lost or forgotten. By digitizing old footage and making it searchable with AI tools, Reuters and ITN are helping to protect the past for future generations. Students, filmmakers, historians, and everyday people will all benefit from having access to this incredible collection. The ITN archive will be fully searchable on Reuters Connect starting January 1, 2027.