Reuters launched Thursday a new ad campaign using the slogan “Pure News, Straight from the Source.”
The campaign uses water as a metaphor. Just as water can become unclear the further it gets from its origin, so too can information the further it gets from its source.
This campaign launches amid the escalating spread of misinformation and disinformation worldwide. According to the 2025 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, more than half of global respondents said they are worried about whether news they see online is real or fake.
That concern is particularly high in the U.S., where nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents share these worries.
“In an era of information overload and growing skepticism about media, Reuters stands as a beacon,” said Paul Bascobert, President of Reuters. “Our mission has never been more critical – to deliver facts and rigorous analysis and to shed light on the truth without fear or favor.”
The ad centers on a film that dramatizes an alternate reality where the water everyone consumes is cloudy – a visual metaphor for the misinformation that a growing number of people are consuming and where it can be hard to tell what’s real. Generative artificial intelligence is deliberately employed to transform clear water into cloudy, demonstrating how this same technology can be used to create convincing but false imagery.
The ad reinforces why trusted, verified news sources like Reuters are more critical than ever.
An arresting moment occurs when the film switches to actual Reuters footage, shot in alignment with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. While generative AI is used artistically in the campaign, Reuters maintains strict editorial guidelines that prohibit the creation of photos and videos with generative AI in its news coverage, ensuring audiences can know that what they see from Reuters journalists is real, accurate and trustworthy.
