Facebook and Mozilla are among the companies and organizations launching a $14 million fund to promote news literacy and increase trust in journalism.

The nonprofit, called the News Integrity Initiative, will be based at the City University of New York. It will run as an independent project of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Others contributing to the fund include Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and the Ford Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Tow Foundation, AppNexus, and Betaworks.

“By locating the News Integrity Initiative at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, our faculty and students will have a unique opportunity to engage with researchers and technologists, attend events and conduct experiments aimed at building greater trust in our profession,” says CUNY J-School Dean Sarah Bartlett. “It’s hard to think of a more important role for a public graduate school of journalism.”

Recent polls show the public’s trust in the news industry at a low.

“In high school U.S. history, I learned that a trustworthy press is the immune system of democracy,” Newmark says. “As a news consumer, like most folks, I want news we can trust. That means standing up for trustworthy news media and learning how to spot clickbait and deceptive news.”

False news and misinformation, often masquerading as trustworthy news and spreading on social media, has gained a lot of attention since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Companies like Facebook are trying to address the issue.

Participants include:

  • Arizona State University
  • Center for Community and Ethnic Media at CUNY Journalism School
  • Constructive Institute at Aarhus University (Denmark)
  • Edelman
  • European Journalism Centre (Netherlands)
  • Fundación Gabriel García Márquez para el Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI, Colombia)
  • Hamburg Media School (Germany)
  • Hans-Bredow-Institut (Germany)
  • The Ida B. Wells Society
  • International Center for Journalists
  • News Literacy Project
  • Polis, London School of Economics (U.K.)
  • Ecole de Journalisme de Sciences Po (Sciences Po Journalism School, France)
  • The Society of Publishers in Asia (Hong Kong)
  • Trust Project
  • Walkley Foundation (Australia)
  • Weber Shandwick
  • Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales
  • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Division for Freedom of Expression and Media Development (headquartered in France)

Read more about the project at:

Announcing the News Integrity Initiative to Increase Trust in Journalism