In the social media age, we are inundated with visual information — yet we know very little about how and why these images are made, especially in journalistic contexts. This can be a huge barrier to establishing trust between visual journalists, their subjects, and the people who consume their work. Dr. T.J. Thomson is a […]

Reporters are under a microscope today — both on and off the job. Nearly 25 years ago, after Timothy McVeigh ignited a Ryder truck full of explosives outside the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds of others, students at the University of Oklahoma’s student newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily, […]

Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the organization of craigslist founder Craig Newmark, has donated $200,000 to the American Press Institute to expand its efforts of promoting ethical reporting and helping journalists produce trustworthy work. With these funds, API seeks to help put into practice the growing body of ideas on how journalists can better provide accurate and […]

Earlier this year, API released two sets of guidelines on the ethics of funding nonprofit news, one set for philanthropic funders and one set for nonprofit newsrooms. These guidelines were the product of more than two years of work exploring the question of how to best ensure editorial independence, including a meeting of 18 funders, […]

As journalism’s traditional business models continue to shift, more news organizations are turning to nonprofit and foundation support as a way to support their journalism. But taking money from private foundations rather than commercial advertisers comes with its own ethical issues concerning how news organizations maintain their editorial independence. Funding can be often more tied […]

Many of the biggest political stories of the last few weeks have relied heavily on anonymous sources, NYT public editor Liz Spayd writes: “Reporters and editors trust such information, sometimes risking their reputation on it. Readers, on the other hand, couldn’t be more suspicious — and with reason. The descriptions generally tilt far more toward […]

As nonprofit funding of news grows, what are the best practices for ensuring editorial independence? The following two sets of broad guidelines of best practices, one for funders and another for nonprofit media organizations, are the product of more than two years of work exploring the question. That work began with surveys of funders, nonprofit […]

Philanthropy increasingly provides important support for nonprofit journalism. Funders have varying reasons for supporting journalism and media. Some support journalism as a field unto itself, and a public good. Others see journalism and media as integral to their focus on democracy and civic engagement and participation. And still others may be primarily motivated by the […]

Journalism produced by nonprofit newsrooms is becoming a more important part of the media landscape and foundation support. In addition, increasing numbers of commercial news publishers are partnering with nonprofit media, and in some cases, accepting direct grants themselves. The following principles were collected by and for nonprofit media and are offered as a guide […]

You might have heard: BuzzFeed published documents claimed to be compiled by a former British intelligence agent claiming that Donald Trump and his associates have deep ties to Russian spies and that Russia has “compromising information” on Trump (Recode) But did you know: In a note to the staff explaining why BuzzFeed was publishing the […]