Craigslist founder grant to launch ethics center at Poynter

The Poynter Institute has been awarded a $5 million grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to establish the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at Poynter. The grant is the single largest contribution to Poynter, according to the non-profit.

The Center for Ethics and Leadership will “improve fact-based expression by training journalists and working with news organizations to hone and adopt meaningful and transparent ethics practices,” according to Poynter. The Center at Poynter aims to be the "industry's ombudsman," a place where journalists, ethicists, and citizens convene to elevate American discourse and battle disinformation and bias, Poynter says.

"I want to stand up for trustworthy journalism and stand against deceptive and fake news," said Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and Craig Newmark Philanthropies. "And I want to help news organizations work together to protect themselves and the public. Poynter's the right place to do this work because the institute has long been very serious about trustworthy news, and it has been committed to both training journalists and holding media organizations accountable."

Poynter senior vice president Kelly McBride will lead the initiative as the Craig Newmark Journalism Ethics Chair.

The grant to the Poynter is part of Craig Newmark Philanthropies' $15 million investment aimed at advancing journalism ethics, with $10 million going to the Columbia Journalism School to establish and name the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security and the Craig Newmark Professorship of Journalism.

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