Muddy water is a very strong symbol of the problem with news today. Reuters has claimed it in a campaign by Gravity Road. Pure News, Straight from the Source, that underlines the importance of independent, agenda-free news in an environment filling up with misinformation that muddies the difference between fact and fiction.

The water metaphor highlights Reuters unique position in reporting the world’s news as it happens, from where it happens, with more than 2,600 journalists reporting from 200 locations around the world.

The campaign has launched as the spread of misinformation and disinformation continues to grow 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 US, where 73% of respondents admitted to these worries.

The campaign film, directed by BAFTA-nominated director, Ivan Bird, combines cinematic craft, generative AI and original Reuters footage to create a striking visual narrative. Generative AI is used deliberately and overtly to transform clear water into cloudy, demonstrating how this same technology can be used to create convincing but false imagery.

A caption is used to make it quite clear where AI is used. When the film switches to actual Reuters footage, shot in alignment with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles, the caption changes to authorise the Reuters footage and underlining the authenticity of its content.

The campaign is running throughout the US with Strawberry Frog managing media planning and buying.

Gravity Road co-founder and CEO Mark Eaves says: “We scrutinise the sources of the food and drink we consume — where we demand transparency, traceability and purity. So why should we be less concerned with the sources of the news we intake? As misinformation takes on ever more convincing forms through AI, this campaign reasserts Reuters primacy as part of a healthy news diet.”

Credits
Client: Reuters
President: Paul Bascobert
Managing Director, Reuters Professional: Josh London
General Manager, Digital: Phil Andraos

Agency: Gravity Road
Founder: Mark Eaves
Executive Creative Director: Sophie Cullinane
Executive Producer: Lou Hake
Executive Strategy Director: Ruairi Curran
Account Director: Rob Henderson

Production Company: Great Guns
Director: Ivan Bird
Producer: Kate Philips
Head of Production: Tim Francis
Editor: Vanessa Wood

Sound: 750mph
Grade: Selected Works

Full story here.