Insights

October 22, 2026

In a crowded information ecosystem, the question isn’t just what’s true, but whom people believe. Knowing which sources your audiences do or do not trust can help determine how to build advocacy for your story and when to steer clear of messengers that could hurt it. This week, we explore what that means for communicators, plus our go-to sources for tracking trust.

ICYMI: We explored AI’s growing reputation problem, why companies are pulling back on deployment amid rising trust and safety concerns, and what communicators can do to prepare for AI-related incidents. Plus, takeaways from the U.S. News Future of Higher Education Forum on where AI belongs and what work should remain human. Catch up here.

In our age of information overload, reliable sources are a strategic asset

Business leaders, policymakers, health systems and educators are all competing in an information environment where the same data get picked up, reframed and repackaged by people with different agendas.

Gallup found last month that just 33% of Americans have confidence in the mass media. The Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report found trust in news fell in 29 of the 48 countries it surveyed. AI is adding another layer between the source and the audience. Weekly use of AI chatbots for news rose to 10% globally, but only 42% of those users regularly click through to the original source, according to the Reuters report.

Zoom in. Trust in science remains relatively high in the U.S., but that doesn’t mean people will readily accept new treatments and technologies. According to the latest Wellcome Global Monitor, 52% of Americans say they have a lot of trust in science, compared with 26% globally.

At this year’s STAT Summit 2026, panelists discussed why advances in medicine can still face public resistance.

• Biogen CEO Chris Viehbacher pointed to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Scientists saw the speed of development as a major achievement, but some people questioned how a process that usually takes years could happen so quickly, and the research behind it wasn’t explained well enough.
• Viehbacher also noted that people tend to trust individual doctors and scientists more than the institutions behind them. The statistics back him up: Ipsos’ 2026 Global Trustworthiness Index ranks doctors (58%) and scientists (57%) as the most trusted professions across 31 countries, while politicians and influencers rank near the bottom.
• Victor Dzau, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Duke University and former president of the National Academy of Medicine, said better communication alone isn’t enough. Institutions also need to show they’re acting responsibly and weighing affordability, access and public benefit from the start.

Why it matters. Your data are now raw material for other people’s narratives. Competitors, critics and AI tools will repackage it. The organizations that hold up best are the ones whose sources the public already trusts. And that kind of credibility often belongs to people rather than institutions.

Ipsos’ new Reputation Council Report, based on interviews with 200 communications leaders, argues that trust has become “operational infrastructure.” Trusted organizations get “the benefit of the doubt;” others get skepticism.

What communicators should know

Before responding to skepticism, communicators need to understand whether audiences distrust the evidence or the institution presenting it. Each requires a different response, and specific examples of how people and their communities benefit can be more persuasive than general reassurance.

Go deeper: Who’s tracking trust

• Ipsos: The Reputation Council Report 2026 covers how CCOs are handling AI, geopolitics and stakeholder fragmentation. The Global Trustworthiness Index 2026 tracks which professions people trust across 31 countries, and this year it adds AI chatbots.
• Pew Research Center: The News Media Tracker shows how much Americans use and trust 30 major news sources, broken down by party and age. Also useful: Where Americans get health information, and what they trust.
• Gallup: The annual trust in media measure, with trend data going back to the 1970s.
• Reuters Institute: The Digital News Report 2026 is the most complete global view of news habits, trust, creators and AI. See the U.S. page for country-specific data.
• Wellcome: The Global Monitor 2026 covers trust in science and scientists worldwide.

Key upcoming events

AI + Tech

• WSJ Tech: California (Napa Valley, Nov. 3-4) Technology leaders, investors and policymakers explore the AI arms race, infrastructure and hardware bottlenecks, Silicon Valley’s evolving relationship with Washington and the technologies attracting investment beyond AI. Speakers include Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox; Jim Farley, CEO of Ford; and Brian Schimpf, CEO of Anduril Industries.
• Future of AI Summit (London, Nov. 4-5) The Financial Times brings together leaders across business, technology and policy to explore scaling AI across enterprises, with discussions spanning regulation and governance, agentic systems, generative AI, security and workforce transformation. Speakers include Lila Ibrahim, chief AI readiness officer at Google DeepMind; Vik Bajaj, co-CEO of Prometheus; and Alex Schultz, chief data officer at Meta.
• Forbes CIO Summit (New York City, Nov. 11) Leading CIOs and technology executives explore how companies can move from AI experimentation to measurable business value, with a focus on workflows, data, infrastructure, security and governance. Speakers include Aaron Levie, CEO of Box; Shweta Gummidipudi, CIO of Twilio; and Nitin Tandon, global CIO of Vanguard.
• Semafor Silicon Valley & The World (San Francisco, Nov. 16-17) The inaugural event brings together technology executives, government officials and financial leaders to examine how AI and other emerging technologies are reshaping global economies, national competitiveness and public policy. The event is co-chaired by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA; and Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google.

Healthcare

• FT Global Pharma and Biotech Summit (London/virtual, Nov. 10-11) Pharma and biotech leaders examine drug pricing, access to medicines, AI, China’s growing influence and the future of the NHS. Speakers include Nathalie Moll, director general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations; Shreeram Aradhye, president of development and chief medical officer at Novartis; and Kim Branson, chief AI officer at GSK.
• HLTH (Las Vegas, Nov. 15-18) Healthcare executives, clinicians and policymakers explore how AI and emerging technologies are transforming care delivery, diagnostics, drug development and patient outcomes. Speakers include Arianna Huffington, CEO of Thrive Global; Peter Stern, CEO of Peloton; and Ashley Alexander, VP of Product, Health at OpenAI.

Leadership + Ideas 

• Business Insider’s The Long Play (New York City, Oct. 29) Business leaders and executives join Business Insider to explore how companies and careers can adapt to economic cycles, crises and waves of new technology. Speakers include Barry Diller, senior executive and chair of People Incorporated and Expedia Group; Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software; and Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, governor of Gotham FC and co-owner of the New York Giants.
• WSJ Board of Directors Council Summit (Palm Beach, Florida, Nov. 9-10) Directors and business leaders explore how boards can navigate AI-driven change, from governance and enterprise risk to organizational resilience, leadership and the future of the boardroom. Speakers include Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow; Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard; and Ellen Kullman, former CEO of DuPont.
• Fortune 500 Innovation Forum (Detroit, Nov. 16-17) Business leaders and executives explore how innovation is reshaping industries, from AI and automation to manufacturing and the future of work. Speakers include Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines; Kecia Steelman, CEO of Ulta Beauty; and Mark Reuss, president of General Motors.

Bookmark Global Gateway Advisors’ event tracker, updated weekly.

Media news

• Is Quartz’s website becoming an AI content factory? A recent Press Gazette investigation found that one reporter published at least 52 articles in a single day, many of them apparently AI-generated rewrites of other sources. The findings raise questions about Quartz’s reliance on AI, but also reflect a shift in its business model. With website traffic declining, Quartz appears to be prioritizing newsletters, which had more than 1 million subscribers when the company was acquired in 2025.
• Microsoft puts employees at the center of its communications strategy. The company is moving its communications team out of marketing and under Vice Chair Brad Smith, while encouraging more employees to speak publicly about their work as it looks to connect directly with audiences in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
• Hillary Clinton teams up with Kara Swisher for new podcast. “High Stakes,” a limited series covering the 2026 midterm elections, debuted Oct. 14, with new episodes airing Wednesdays through mid-November. The two will discuss key races and issues including the cost of living, healthcare and technology, as well as the election results.
• Local news losses accelerate across the U.S. Northwestern University’s latest State of Local News report found that 170 newspapers closed over the past year, creating 26 new news deserts, the largest annual increase since tracking began five years ago. Rural communities have been hit especially hard, while nearly 80% of new outlets launched in the past five years are in urban areas. Local news website traffic has also dropped nearly 30% on average.
• Semafor marks its fourth anniversary. The news outlet celebrated the milestone with 1.2 million newsletter subscriptions, journalists in 11 countries and more than 16,000 attendees at its events worldwide. It also plans to expand into Asia next year.
• Christiane Amanpour to leave CNN after 43 years. She plans to end her daily shows on CNN and PBS at the end of this year and continue with a weekly CNN program through May. Her departure comes weeks after Skydance completed its acquisition of CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, a move she has publicly expressed concern about.
• Sammi Cohen launches new business news network. The business podcaster and content creator has launched Social Commerce Network (SCN), which she describes as “CNBC for the generation that gets their news on their phone.” The show streams three days a week across YouTube, X, TikTok and Instagram, covering business, tech, retail and the creator economy.
• STAT announces new editorial features. The publication launched “Chief Complaint,” a column by Frances Mei Hardin, a former ENT surgeon and author of memoir “Surgeon on the Edge,” focused on challenges facing physicians in the modern healthcare system. The outlet also premiered “Friendly Argument,” a series featuring “Point Counterpoint”-style debates around health and medicine.

Media moves

• Humza Jilani (formerly The Financial Times) has joined The New York Times as Persian Gulf correspondent, based in Dubai, covering business, finance and geopolitics across the region, while Cory Weinberg was hired by the organization to cover Anthropic.
• Eric Holm (formerly The Wall Street Journal) has joined CNBC as its economic editor.
• Shaun Chen (formerly The Associated Press) has been named editor-in-chief at Gizmodo.
• Nick Wingfield has been promoted to co-executive editor of The Information, while Ryan Barwick (formerly Axios) joined as its Google reporter.
• Margaux Nijkerk (formerly CoinDesk) has launched The Cryptaux Edge, a daily newsletter covering tokenization, digital assets, AI and financial technology.
• Karoline Leavitt (formerly White House press secretary) is joining Fox News as an on-air contributor on Nov. 1.

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