The Journalist's Manual to Verified Sources

The pitch-spam crisis

The modal newsroom inbox in 2026 receives 2,400 cold pitches per week, of which an estimated 71% are AI-generated boilerplate. The signal-to-noise ratio is the lowest it has ever been.

The Trust Protocol exists to invert this. Instead of asking journalists to triage every pitch, it certifies the source before the pitch lands.

Three filters every desk should adopt

1. Identity verification — a cryptographic passport, not a LinkedIn URL.
2. Citable evidence — claims must arrive with primary artifacts attached.
3. Topical fit — the protocol scores topical authority, so off-beat pitches never reach the inbox.