The News Integrity Initiative (NII) at the Newmark J-School was launched in 2017 to advance media literacy and increase trust in journalism.

The initiative refocused its work on improving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in the news business. The goal was to better integrate journalists of color into the media landscape and promote high-quality civic content that resonates with historically marginalized communities.

While NII no longer exists as a stand-alone entity, its work on DEI continues as part of other programs at the Newmark J-School.

The News Integrity Initiative was a project of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Foundation under the auspices of the school’s Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. NII extended the long-standing work of the Tow-Knight Center in building bridges between platforms and publishers and supported collaboration in service of the public and journalism. NII received seed funding from Facebook, Craig Newmark Philanthropic Fund, the Ford Foundation, and AppNexus.

Reports

The News Integrity Initiative in partnership with Frontline Solutions wrote this report and guide on applying an equity lens in journalism philanthropy after interviewing program officers for their feedback and best practices. Here is the executive summary version, too.