Trusted Sources Matter More Than Ever

Included in this issue of The Waterways Journal, as promised, is a story about a deepfake video that some of our readers may have already seen. This video and others like it present disinformation about the Mississippi River as fact.

As AI tools become more widely available, unfortunately they also enable bad actors to spread such disinformation. In this ever-expanding media firehose, the benefits of limiting screen time and social media exposure are becoming more widely recognized.

So, too, is the importance of relying on known, trusted sources as the media environment changes and expands. The Waterways Journal brings the experts to you as we introduce more video content in our WJ Talk series of podcast interviews. We are already building up an archive of content of conversations with known and respected industry experts and advocates like Sean Duffy, Paul Rohde and Ken Eriksen. Our readers and listeners can look for a lot more conversations to come.

AI is enriching our lives and enabling possibilities we can’t even imagine. While it also empowers bad actors, it gives us the tools to defend against them.

But as we see illustrated every day, trust is more important than tools. Nothing can replace trust. That’s true of the industry we have reported on since 1887, and it remains true in 2026 and beyond.