New MIF/Hewlett Foundation Webinars Explore How Funders Can Fight Misinformation
“Fake news” continues to spread like wildfire across the western world, and American philanthropy is at the forefront of the battle to address it. From the recent prototype fund sponsored by the Knight and Rita Allen Foundations and the Democracy Fund, to the Gates, Ford, and Knight Foundations’ collaboration with Democracy Fund in support of CUNY’s News Integrity Initiative, to Craig Newmark and others’ investment in Poynter’s fact-checking initiative, many in philanthropy are seeking to help mitigate the effects of disinformation and propaganda.
Broadly speaking, most of these philanthropic initiatives seek to intervene at one of three points in the information system: on the production of politically relevant information, on its distribution, or on its consumption. These points each represent necessary parts of any ultimate solution—but alone are insufficient. . .