OOMA recently announced their involvement and partnership with The News Integrity Initiative. Technology and media companies alike have joined together to fight the issue of “fake news” with a $14 million fund to reinstate audience confidence and increased trust in journalism.
Facebook has been behind a significant drive to target fake news and has recently joined the initiative, alongside Mozilla, Craigslist, AppNexus and the Ford Foundation. Although viewed as a technology company, embedding world-class tools, the company has come under fire for not doing more to limit fake news and hate speech, which has been able to become distributed media throughout the site.
As part of the Facebook Journalism Project, The News Integrity Initiative will give people the tools necessary to be discerning about the information they see online. Improving news literacy is a global concern, and this diverse group assembled by CUNY brings together experts from around the world to work toward building more informed communities. By locating the News Integrity Initiative at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, the 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.
The News Integrity Initiative will be ran as an independent project by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism under the auspices of the School’s Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, and the group’s other founding funders are:
- AppNexus
- Betaworks
- Craig Newmark Philanthropic Fund
- Democracy Fund
- Ford Foundation
- John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- Mozilla
- Tow Foundation
The News Integrity Initiative also has approximately 19 key companies tied to the project which include:
- Arizona State University in the U.S.
- Center for Community and Ethnic Media at CUNY Journalism School in the U.S.
- Constructive Institute at Aarhus University in Denmark
- Edelman based in the U.S.
- European Journalism Centre in the Netherlands
- Fundación Gabriel García Márquez para el Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI) based in Colombia
- Hamburg Media School in Germany
- Hans-Bredow-Institut in Germany
- The Ida B. Wells Society in the U.S.
- International Center for Journalists based in the U.S.
- News Literacy Project based in the U.S.
- Polis, London School of Economics in the U.K.
- Ecole de Journalisme de Sciences Po (Sciences Po Journalism School) in France
- The Society of Publishers in Asia based in Hong Kong
- Trust Project based in the U.S.
- Walkley Foundation in Australia
- Weber Shandwick based in the U.S.
- Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Division for Freedom of Expression and Media Development headquartered in France
The News Integrity Initiative will seek out additional funders and participants in order to fund research and projects, convene events and further the goal of fostering better informed communities. To join the News Integrity Initiative as a funder or participant, or to express an interest in the general manager position, please contact: generalinfo@journalism.cuny.edu. I am a huge fan of this initiative and looking forward to an industry with REAL news, change is definitely needed.
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Source: CUNY, OMMA, USA
