Five years ago, the refrain I kept hearing was, “I just can’t look at it anymore.” News was leaving audiences feeling more wrung out than empowered. Today, that’s become background noise as a new chorus takes hold: “I just don’t know what to believe.” The media environment is leaving people more disoriented than informed.

As the ability to distinguish between AI-generated video and images evaporates, and the information ecosystem gets ever more crowded with ever louder voices, the greatest service journalists can provide is clarity.

The good news is we know how to do this. The trick is to resist the whims of algorithms to actually do it. Here are some easy ways:

Dial back the drama. If an alarm were constantly sounding, you’d learn to tune it out. But what happens when the fire is real? We learned too well that social media is about emotion. It’s time to turn down the heat. By stating knowns, unknowns, and consequences plainly and with context, journalists can help the public feel able to respond to events appropriately — a welcome contrast to the commentators and creators looking for hate engagement.

Bylines that answer not just who, but why. Many people believe the worst of journalists. Bylines and bios that explain not just a reporter’s expertise but their POV and purpose — why they do journalism — would bring humanity not just to the storytelling, but to the storytellers, too. What better way to differentiate ourselves from chatbots than to lean into how we relate to other people: radical transparency about what makes us tick?

Tell it straight. When people say they like someone who tells it like it is, sometimes that has more to do with the delivery than the message. Respect your audiences’ time by translating every careful soundbite and nonsensical jargon into what it actually means.

We know how to do this. Let’s go, 2026.