The Greenwall Foundation is pleased to provide support—alongside our partners the Dana Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and The Boston Foundation—for STAT’s new trust-in-science beat.
The new beat will examine declining trust in science and, according to STAT’s press statement, will produce “explanatory and accountability journalism that helps readers understand where and why trust is breaking down as well as the consequences of that skepticism.” It will be helmed by reporter Nicholas Florko, who talks about how he’s approaching this initiative in the video below:
“Trust has been shaken in all kinds of ways: by the response to the pandemic, by high-profile scientific misconduct, by politicization of health agencies and demonization of their leaders, by the rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation, and by so much more,” writes STAT Co-founder and Executive Editor Rick Berke. “We think STAT can do even more to tackle this head-on. To that end, we have established two new roles: a trust-in-science reporter and an editor.”
Greenwall’s support for this work reflects the importance of understanding not only whether the public trusts science and medicine, but also why they do—or do not—and what makes institutions, researchers, clinicians, and others worthy of that trust.
In a recent op-ed, Greenwall President & CEO Michelle Groman, JD, and Dana Foundation President & CEO Caroline Montojo, PhD, discuss the motivation for supporting the new STAT reporting initiative and the complex nature of addressing the problem of declining trust in science.
“These issues are not confined to science and medicine. Trust in expertise, authority, and institutions is fragile as well. And it’s not simply trust—it’s about trustworthiness, too,” Ms. Groman and Ms. Montojo write. “To chart a path forward, the scientific community must develop a broad understanding, one that considers the past and present and goes beyond the arenas of research and academia in which our organizations typically operate.”
That broader understanding is essential to addressing the many factors that shape public confidence in science, from how scientific evidence is produced to how it’s communicated.
Select trust-in-science articles from STAT can be found below (last updated October 13, 2026):
You can follow the ongoing reporting from the new trust-in-science beat on STAT’s website.