MEDIA TRUST ARCHIVE
EXHIBITION / 1827—NOW
AN EXHIBITION OF JOURNALISM'S PROMISES
Why Should I
Trust You?
A field study of the promises journalism has made to the public — 1827 to present. A project by Jakub Górnicki ↗
THE PREMISE

Every news organization is selling something. Always has been.

The slogan changes. The crisis changes. The technology changes. The promise does not — it shifts, mutates, upgrades, fails, and is replaced by a new one.

"Truth." "Democracy." "Independence." "Verification." Each chapter invented a new word for trust. Each was honest. Each was self-interested. Each became the next chapter's embarrassment.

This archive collects 200 years of those promises. Not to mock — to examine. The exhibition does not answer whether journalism is good. It asks what journalism has promised, why those promises changed, and what the profession will need to promise next.

Six chapters. Six anxieties. Six versions of trust.