EN
The main objective of this paper is to present a reflection on the process when journalism was becoming a profession at the end of XIX century. This process is depicted in the Kraszewski’s novel In troubled water (W mętnej wodzie). An additional aim is to present Kraszewski as a journalist and a press expert. The journalist ethos is described in the light of the social context of its time. The analyzed novel is treated as an extraordinary moral code of newly emerged profession of journalism.