As artificial intelligence reshapes political communication, economic nationalism redraws trade relationships and public trust in institutions remains fragile, this forum will convene leading journalists and thinkers from Canada and the United States to examine how news organizations must adapt to cover power, policy and markets in the AI era.
This is an invite-only event. RSVP required.
1:00–1:30 p.m. Arrival and Registration
1:30–1:40 p.m. Welcome Remarks
1:40–2:20 p.m. Opening Keynote
2:20–3:00 p.m. Panel: Covering Politics When AI Is Embedded in Power
3:00–3:15 p.m. Coffee Break
3:15–3:55 p.m. Panel: The Future of News: Sustainability, Scale and Public Trust
3:55–4:35 p.m. Panel: Power, Markets and the New Political Economy
4:35–5:15 p.m. Closing Conversation: Journalism, Power and the Next Democratic Stress Test
5:15–5:30 p.m. Closing Remarks
5:30–6:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception
A candid opening conversation on how the political, technological and economic landscape has shifted since 2024 — and what newsroom leaders underestimated, got right or must urgently rethink.
Featured speaker: Katie Drummond, global editorial director, WIRED, in conversation with Hanna Rosin, senior editor, The Atlantic; host, Radio Atlantic
Generative AI, synthetic media, algorithmic targeting and platform dynamics are becoming part of the machinery of political power. How should journalists adapt their reporting, verification and newsroom practices?
Panelists:
Craig Silverman, founder, Indicator; Kashmir Hill, technology reporter, The New York Times; Kate Marino, executive editor, Axios
How can news organizations build sustainable models while protecting editorial independence, civic value and public trust amid cost pressure, audience fragmentation, platform dependency and AI disruption?
Moderator: Brian Stelter, chief media analyst, CNN
Panelists:
Aja Whitaker-Moore, deputy editor-in-chief, The Wall Street Journal; David Skok, founder and CEO, The Logic; Ben Smith, co-founder and editor-in-chief, Semafor
Economic nationalism, trade conflict, industrial policy, platform power and regulation are reshaping the relationship between markets and governments. How should journalism explain who holds power, who benefits and how technology and policy are changing democratic accountability?
Panelists:
Alex Burns, senior executive editor, Politico; Angela Murphy, foreign editor, The Globe and Mail
The forum concludes with a major conversation about the future of independent journalism at a moment of political pressure, technological disruption and declining institutional trust. What will it take for major news organizations to protect editorial independence, adapt to AI and remain authoritative through the next democratic stress test?
Panelists:
Patrick Healy, assistant managing editor of Trust and Standards, The New York Times, Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor, The Atlantic
Ali Velshi
Ali Velshi is an award-winning journalist, anchor of “The 11 Hour with Ali Velshi” and Chief Data Reporter for MS NOW, and a weekly economics contributor to NPR’s “Here And Now.” He has covered multiple U.S. Midterm and Presidential elections and significant news stories around the globe, including extensive reporting from Israel during the war with Israel and Hamas, Ukraine and across Central and Eastern Europe during the Russian invasion, the Syrian refugee crisis from Turkey and Jordan, and the Iran Nuclear Deal in Tehran. He hosts the “Velshi Banned Book Club” on MS NOW, and the “Velshi Banned Book Club” podcast. Velshi is known for his immersive on-the-ground reporting and his interactive discussions with small groups, which form part of his ongoing series, Velshi Across America. He previously worked as an anchor and correspondent for Al Jazeera America and CNN. He has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards, and is the recipient of two National Headliner Awards and a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award.
Katie Drummond
Katie Drummond is the global editorial director of WIRED, where she leads the editorial and revenue strategy for the brand across all channels and markets. Prior to joining WIRED, Drummond was the senior vice president of global news & entertainment at VICE, where she led the global expansion of VICE News across Latin America, Europe, and Asia, and oversaw all VICE digital brands including Noisey, Munchies, Rec Room, Motherboard, and Waypoint. Previously, Drummond held editorial leadership positions at several media outlets, including as deputy editor of Bloomberg.com and Associate Managing Editor of The Verge. Drummond has led newsrooms that have been honored with a Peabody Award, as well as several Emmys, Online Journalism Awards, ASMEs, and others.
Craig Silverman
Craig Silverman is an award-winning journalist and author, and one of the world’s leading experts on online disinformation and digital investigations. He is the co-founder of Indicator, a newsletter and website dedicated to exposing digital deception and equipping professionals with the knowledge and skills to help them investigate it.
Kashmir Hill
Kashmir Hill is a features writer at The New York Times and the author of YOUR FACE BELONGS TO US. She writes about the unexpected and sometimes ominous ways technology is changing our lives. She joined The Times in 2019, after having worked at Gizmodo Media Group, Fusion, Forbes Magazine, and Above the Law. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker and The Washington Post. She has degrees from Duke University and New York University, where she studied journalism.
Kate Marino
Kate Marino is executive editor of the National newsroom at Axios. Prior to working at Axios, Marino spent a decade at Debtwire, where she was the managing editor of North America corporate coverage, overseeing a team of journalists covering North America leveraged finance, distressed debt and restructuring.
Aja Whitaker-Moore
Aja Whitaker-Moore is deputy editor in chief at The Wall Street Journal. Aja joined the Journal in 2025 from Axios, where she most recently served as editor in chief overseeing their National, Local and Pro newsrooms. Aja joined Axios in 2020 as the managing editor of business coverage before becoming executive editor. She previously held a variety of senior reporting, editing and executive roles at Acuris, a global financial news and data company. She was editor in chief of fixed income for the group and the deputy editor in chief of Debtwire.
David Skok
Before founding The Logic in 2018, David Skok was the associate editor and head of editorial strategy at the Toronto Star. He has also served as the managing editor and vice-president of digital for the Boston Globe, and as the co-creator and director of digital for Global News. David is a leading thinker on digital transformation who co-published a seminal paper on disruption in the news industry with the Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen. David sits on the advisory board for the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and has served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes in journalism.
Ben Smith
Ben Smith is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Semafor. He was media columnist of the New York Times, and previously the founding editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News. Ben has covered American politics for more than a decade at Politico and the New York Daily News among other outlets, and launched a number of political blogs.
Alex Burns
Alex Burns is POLITICO’s Senior Executive Editor, North America, overseeing coverage of the Trump administration and newsgathering across the United States and Canada. Burns is a former national political correspondent for The New York Times, where he reported on the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, and the co-author of the bestselling book, “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future,” a deeply reported account of two presidents and the 2020 campaign. A graduate of Harvard College, where he was editor of the Harvard Political Review, Burns lives in Washington with his family.
Angela Murphy
Angela Murphy has been the Globe and Mail’s Foreign Editor for the past nine tumultuous years, steering a team of correspondents stationed around the world. She guides the Globe’s coverage of the United States and is leading the reporting on Donald Trump’s second term in office. In January 2026, she taught a course at Western University on the changing Canada/U.S. relationship as the winner of the Asper Fellowship in Media. Before becoming Foreign Editor, she did an award-winning project on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and served as the Globe’s Toronto Editor. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Arts in Journalism from Western University.
Patrick Healy
Patrick Healy is the assistant managing editor for trust and standards at The New York Times, overseeing work to strengthen Times journalism and the credibility of fact-based reporting. Patrick was previously the deputy editor of the Times Opinion section, working with the columnists, guest essays and special projects like Opinion’s focus group series. In the Times newsroom, Patrick served as Politics editor during the 2020 U.S. presidential election and the 2018 midterm elections. As a reporter at the Times from 2005 to 2016, Patrick’s roles included national political correspondent and chief theater reporter. He was a reporter for the Boston Globe from 2000 through 2004, covering John Kerry’s presidential campaign, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and higher education. Patrick was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting, for his higher education coverage at The Globe. He received The Livingston Award in 2001 for his Globe series on Harvard honors and grade inflation, as well as prizes for his coverage of student suicide at M.I.T. Patrick began his career as a daily newspaper reporter in New Hampshire and spent several years as a reporter and editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Adrienne LaFrance
Adrienne LaFrance is the executive editor of The Atlantic. She was previously a senior editor and staff writer at The Atlantic, and the editor of TheAtlantic.com. Before joining The Atlantic in 2014, LaFrance was an investigative reporter for several local and national news organizations, covering politics, technology, and media. She is a former reporter at WBUR, Hawaii Public Radio, Honolulu Weekly, Honolulu Civil Beat, and Nieman Journalism Lab. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and several other newspapers and magazines.
Hanna Rosin
Hanna Rosin is a journalist and podcast host, currently of Radio Atlantic — the flagship podcast of The Atlantic. Recently, she was the editorial director of audio at New York magazine. She began her audio career at NPR, serving as co-host of Invisibilia. Prior to making the switch to podcasts, she was a magazine and newspaper writer at outlets like The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The Washington Post. She won a National Magazine Award and many audio awards. She is also the author of two books, most recently “The End of Men: And The Rise of Women.” She lives in Washington, D.C. with her partner and a ragtag collection of pets with human names. She’s trying to be a potter!
Brian Stelter
Brian Stelter is the chief media analyst for CNN Worldwide and the lead author of the Reliable Sources newsletter.
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