“I turned off news altogether. I want to be able to form my own opinions. Just tell the truth.”

These lines open NBC News’ new national campaign, a 60-second ad that drifts over forests, farms, neighborhoods, and cityscapes while Americans talk about how worn out they feel by the news. The landscape carries the conversation as people describe being tired, frustrated, and unsure where to find reliable information.

As the voices continue, the focus shifts to the newsroom. The camera moves from the aerial shots into scenes of reporters working on the ground. It shows the job as essential, and at times dangerous.

The campaign, titled “Reporting for America,” comes from DNA&STONE, a Seattle-based advertisement agency known for an approach it calls Radical Empathy. NBC News hired the team to reaffirm its identity as a source for fact-based news at a time when many viewers have stepped away or given up on news entirely.

Matt McCain, one of the agency’s founders, says they began by focusing on the “exhausted majority,” the large group of Americans who care about what’s happening but feel worn down by constant arguing and opinion-driven news. Research puts that group at about 76% of the country “I know people in both parties that are just sick of fighting and exhausted,” he says.

To understand that fatigue, DNA&STONE interviewed about 50 of those people, aiming for the unscripted remarks that come out when someone is speaking freely. The recordings in the ad come directly from those conversations. “There’s power in just listening to the voices of America,” he explains.

The visuals follow the same idea. Keeping faces out of the footage lets viewers connect with what’s being said rather than the identities behind the words. McCain describes the aerial shots as a way to make the message feel collective, a broad snapshot of what the country looks like right now.

Radical Empathy, the agency’s guiding framework, centers on meeting people where they are. “You can’t make someone feel something different unless you first acknowledge how they feel right now,” McCain says. The method includes interviews with those they hope to reach and project teams shaped by lived experience. The goal is work that aligns with the audience, and that starts with being willing to sit with uncomfortable emotions and let real feelings guide the creative work.

A Times Square billboard featuring NBC’s “Reporting for America” campaign.

“Being in Seattle helps our Radical Empathy approach,” McCain says. “Authenticity rules here. We’re pretty honest with each other, and I think authenticity in the Northwest is about being honest about how we feel. That’s empathy.”

DNA&STONE formed at the beginning of the year through a merger of DNA, a long-running Seattle agency, and Little Hands of Stone, a smaller shop McCain had run for about six years. The combined agency now has about 40 employees, with an office on Capitol Hill and some team members in Chicago. It was recently named a 2025 Small Agency of the Year by Ad Age and was shortlisted by Adweek for its national category.

For McCain, the NBC project offered a chance to work on something larger than a typical commercial assignment. He sees it as an opportunity to help rebuild trust by reminding Americans that fact-based reporting still exists. “If we can start to help heal this country a little bit, that would be pretty great,” he says. “You don’t get opportunities in advertising to make a social impact too often.”