McGovern Foundation is continuing its support of Trusting News with a new $300,000 grant focused on AI in journalism.
Trusting News receives renewed support from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation to expand AI transparency and education efforts
We’re excited to announce that the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation is continuing its support of Trusting News with a new $300,000 grant focused on advancing ethical, transparent and audience-centered use of AI in journalism.
With the foundation’s support last year, we have led the industry in thinking about and executing transparency around AI use in journalism by:
- Creating a community survey and interview guide for journalists and newsrooms so they can better understand how their audiences feel about AI (its use in news, but also, in general) and what their expectations are around disclosure when it’s used.
- Led and supported a cohort of 10 newsrooms while they used these listening tools in their communities.
- Developed recommendations for the industry on how to disclose their use of AI, including sample copy/paste language and a mad-lib style fill-in-the-blank tool to help newsrooms disclose their use of AI (all of which can be found in our AI Trust Kit).
- Led and supported a second cohort of newsrooms to use our AI disclosure recommendations and language in their own journalism.
- Worked with researchers to design, execute and make sense of user sentiments of AI use transparency in journalism, including its implication on user trust in the reporting, news industry and news organization.
- Trained and coached more than 1,700 journalists on what we have learned, how to duplicate this work and suggest language and strategies they can use in their own newsrooms (Often by partnering with other journalism support organizations like ONA, LMA, SPJ and others.)
Now, we’re expanding that work to help journalists not only use AI responsibly but also serve as educators on the topic. Through this new grant, Trusting News will:
- Create AI education content for newsrooms to share. We’ll develop accessible, research-backed materials to help newsrooms explain what AI is, how it works, where it’s showing up in everyday life and how to spot AI-generated content.
- Lead a newsroom cohort to test and measure the impact. We’ll guide newsrooms in using this content with their audiences while embedding research to see what works. Does the content improve understanding of AI? Build trust in journalism?
- Fund innovative community AI education projects through newsroom innovation grants. We’ll invite newsrooms to pitch creative ideas for educating the public about AI. Selected projects will receive funding and coaching from Trusting News to bring those ideas to life.
Our research, led by Benjamin Toff at the University of Minnesota, shows people want to be educated about AI and that they welcome that education from journalists. People associate helpfulness and usefulness with trust. We see AI education as an opportunity for journalists to be just that and hopefully build trust in the process. We’re grateful to the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation for helping us support newsrooms in experimenting with this idea while serving a community need.
If you are also working on educating the public about AI or have questions about this work, reach out to Lynn Walsh, who is continuing to lead this work for Trusting News. Her email is: Lynn@TrustingNews.org.
About the foundation: The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation (PJMF) is a philanthropic organization dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence and data science solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all. PJMF works in partnership with public, private, and social institutions to drive progress on our most pressing challenges, including digital health, climate change, broad digital access, and data maturity in the social sector.
Get involved: If you would like to stay up-to-date with our latest research in this area or learn about opportunities to participate in future newsroom cohorts and coaching related to AI and transparency, subscribe to our Trust Tips newsletter. If you are interested in partnering with us on any of this work or are interested in funding additional work in this area, contact Trusting News Executive Director Joy Mayer at Joy@TrustingNews.org.
At Trusting News, we learn how people decide what news to trust and turn that knowledge into actionable strategies for journalists. We train and empower journalists to take responsibility for demonstrating credibility and actively earning trust through transparency and engagement. Learn more about our work, vision and team. Subscribe to our Trust Tips newsletter. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Assistant director Lynn Walsh (she/her) is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has worked in investigative journalism at the national level and locally in California, Ohio, Texas and Florida. She is the former Ethics Chair for the Society of Professional Journalists and a past national president for the organization. Based in San Diego, Lynn is also an adjunct professor and freelance journalist. She can be reached at lynn@TrustingNews.org and on Twitter @lwalsh.
