Truth isn’t enough when trust is missing.
More than ever, media shapes how we see the world—but whose stories are told, and how, continues to fracture trust. The rise of new technologies has diversified platforms and producers, but also fueled misinformation and deepened public mistrust. The Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab calls journalists, content creators, and media professionals to rethink storytelling from the ground up. In partnership with community voices, participants will design practices, narratives, and platforms that repair harm, foster transparency, and center the power of the people most misrepresented.
Example Trust Redesign Opportunities in Media & Journalism:
Local residents say the newsroom only shows up during crises or crime coverage—and rarely reflects their everyday experiences.
Social media platforms amplify sensational or false content faster than verified reporting, eroding public trust in journalism.
A newspaper repeatedly publishes biased or harmful content but lacks a clear process for community redress.
A major newsroom has no BIPOC journalists in leadership, despite covering communities of color daily.
News coverage is inaccessible to non-English-speaking residents during emergencies or elections, exacerbating exclusion.
Journalists and influencers often use images, quotes, or stories from communities without consent, retraumatizing or misrepresenting them.
Survivors of violence, poverty, or displacement feel exploited by journalists and retraumatized by sensational coverage.
Social media comment sections often become sites of harassment, silencing marginalized voices.
Communities distrust media metrics that prioritize reach and revenue over representation and repair.
Existing style guides often fail to reflect the evolving language surrounding identity, culture, and harm, thereby alienating readers.
Across four powerful days, reimagine journalism and content creation with communities, not just about them. Build editorial practices, storytelling frameworks, and narrative systems that center truth and repair—not just reach. Media and journalism can restore trust—but only if we’re willing to redesign how stories are sourced, told, and shared.
The Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Media & Journalism will culminate in co-created trust-based interventions that will be publicly disseminated to drive industry-wide systems change.
This is not a retreat. It’s a reckoning. Walk in with a problem. Walk out with a plan—and a community.
Rebuilding Trust in Media and Journalism Starts Here.
By the end of the Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Media & Journalism experience, graduates will receive:
Invitation to the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice online network, including a private online community of practice for the Re/Designing Trust Lab alumni
Alumni-only virtual gatherings
Access to Lab Report Newsletter
Certificate of Completion
Name acknowledgment in sector-specific Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab Trust Report
Bonus: Redesigners for Justice™ Participation Pin and Sticker
Bonus: Equity-Centered Community Design™ 1.0 field guide (by Creative Reaction Lab)
Bonus: Nature of Trust Bio 360 Report (by Biomimicry 3.8 & Biomimicry for Social Innovation)
$2,444 per person
$444 or $0 for Living Impact Expert
Buy One, Sponsor One: Each full-price registration covers your tuition and also sponsors a complimentary ticket for a living expert—an individual directly impacted by the industry of focus who does not work within it.
During registration, you may nominate a qualified living expert or designate someone to receive your sponsored ticket. Student participants can receive volunteer hours for participation in the program.
If you’re a living impact expert, learn more about and/or apply for a Gertrude Jackson Scholarship (full scholarship) and Jack Burke Scholarship (partial scholarship) below.