Ford Foundation, Tow Foundation and Others Launch $14M Fund To Support News Integrity
A group of tech industry leaders, academic institutions, non-profits and other organizations are jointly launching a $14 million fund to support the News Integrity Initiative, a global consortium focused on helping people make informed judgments about the news they read and share online. The Initiative’s mission is to advance news literacy, to increase trust in journalism around the world, and to better inform the public conversation. The Initiative will fund applied research and projects, and convene meetings with industry experts.
The founding funders are Facebook, the Craig Newmark Philanthropic Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Tow Foundation, AppNexus, Mozilla and Betaworks.
The News Integrity Initiative will be run as an independent project by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism under the auspices of the School’s Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, whose director is Professor Jeff Jarvis. The Initiative will appoint a general manager, who will report to the dean of the CUNY J-School, Sarah Bartlett. The Journalism School will coordinate the activities of the News Integrity Initiative, including research, special projects and events...